The following covers the meeting on Oct. 2.
ELECTION DECISIONS
President Tinker explained that both the election for sophomore senators and the election for senior senators ended in a tie. Since Tinker has not yet appointed a vice president (the position that would generally break ties), he opened the floor to the Senate to discuss an alternative process.
Senator Omegba explained that she was unable to see the full applications, and so instead, based her voting decision on just the candidates’ resumes. Omegba wasn’t the only senator with this issue, so the Senate voted to table the vote.
FUNDING REQUESTS
Trinity’s Zeta Tau chapter of the national honor fraternity Phi Sigma Pi requested reimbursement for attendance at the national Phi Sigma Pi convention in Florida this summer. The chapter sent one student to maintain their chapter (per the national organization), and the group requested $1,542.96 to cover the registration, travel and stay. The Senate approved the full amount.
The Trinity chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) requested $10,280 to bring Heather MacDonald to speak on campus, an event that has not yet been approved by the Event Review Committee. Junior and chairman of YCT Julia Westwick explained that MacDonald would speak about her latest book, “The Diversity Delusion,” and would discuss how ideas are spread on college campuses and how those ideas shape society. Westwick explained that costs for flights and hotel have been covered by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a nonprofit educational organization. The group also aims to pay for their own advertising. The amount of money would cover MacDonald’s honorarium, security, transport to and from the hotel and dinner after the lecture. $0 of the full amount was approved.
Meghan Muppala, sophomore and president of the South Asian Student Association (SASA), presented a request for SASA’s annual Diwali celebration. The request was $2,143.26 and would cover decorations and food. The full amount was approved.
Seniors Anne Wellford, treasurer of Trinity’s chapter of the Society for Women Engineers (SWE), and Hannah Rafferty, president of the organization, requested $3,956 to send six members to SWE’s national conference in Anaheim, California. The conference is Nov. 7–9 and would include career fair workshops and networking events. SWE received $500 from the Department of Engineering and has $150 leftover from last year. The full amount was approved.
Jamie Thompson, director of Student Involvement and SGA adviser, presented a request of $1,500. Generally, a request of that size would be presented at an SGA finance meeting, not a general meeting, but Thompson was unable to make the last finance meaning. Though most requests are made by student organizations, it is within SGA’s constitution to fund requests from Student Involvement. According to Thompson, the request would cover a portion of the fees for Presence in order for the platform to continue to exist for all users. Student Involvement will cover $7,500 of the full cost. The full amount was approved.
VICE PRESIDENT DECISIONS
Tinker reminded the Senate that they need to vote on a new vice president. SGA received one application, but unfortunately, the application was submitted on behalf of Nathan Tuttle, residential life coordinator, on behalf of Michael Logan, housing assignments coordinator.
Tinker went on to tell the Senate that sophomore treasurer Georgia Roberts has enough credits to put her in junior standing, which means she can run for vice president. With this in mind, Roberts left the room so the Senate could deliberate.
While Roberts was out of the room, senator Falcon reminded Tinker that, though he is a sophomore, he has senior-standing and was interested in the position. Tinker never responded to Falcon’s inquiry about the position. Because of this, the Senate voted to table the vote so Falcon could submit his name and application in the running for the position.
