This covers the meeting on Jan. 22.
CLIMATE CHECK
Sophomore senator Esther Omegba said she had a friend from another university who sent her a presentation on a campaign to get locks for electric scooters on college campuses. Adviser Jamie Thompson suggested current president Claire Carlson, junior, reach out to former SGA president, senior Ty Tinker, to see where the former SGA senate left the previous conversation about connecting with a company to bring electric scooters on campus.
Sophomore senator Oliver Chapin-Eiserloh mentioned that flyers with a Twitter thread were printed and posted around campus. The thread described one student’s experience with Trinity’s sexual harassment policy. Junior and president Claire Carlson said she understood that the posters were hung without permission. There was no further discussion.
FUNDING REQUESTS
Senior Maggie Linker senior, representative of the student athlete advisory committee, presented a request for an all-athlete banquet in April. The banquet would cover meals for all Trinity athletes, roughly 300 students, and would cost $3,600. The senate approved the full amount.
Sophomore Beth Bachman and first-year Michael Dixon of Mock Trial Club presented a request of $2,521.50 for Regionals in Arlington. The amount covers the cost of meals, hotel rooms and gas, among other things, for 17 people, including club members and coaches. SGA approved $2,221.50, which does not include gas money, since there was a question of whether SGA is required to fund by a set mile per gallon amount.
CENSUS AND VOTER REGISTRATION
Adviser Thompson, who is also a member of the TU voter engagement and census 2020 task force, explained to SGA members the task force’s upcoming plans and goals. For example, the group will host an on-campus voter registration deputization training, which would allow community members to become authorized to register others to vote. The training will take place on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 4:30 p.m. in the Waxahachie Room. To register, fill out the following form: link tinyurl.com/tudeputy. Thompson continued to explain the importance of filing for the census and why it matters to Trinity students.
Sophomore senator Noor Rahman, who is also a member of the task force, explained more about the importance of the census and student engagement, especially with marketing that importance to one’s peers.
NYT SUBSCRIPTIONS
President Carlson and vice president Georgia Roberts, junior, asked whether senators thought it important to keep paying for print New York Times subscriptions out of the student activity fee. According to Roberts, SGA pays for roughly 50 paper issues to distribute across campus, a number which has reduced over the years. In the 2017-2018 school year, SGA spent roughly $5,200 on the subscription, $3,400 in the 2018-2019 school year and $2,200 so far this school year.
Adviser Thompson explained that SGA only pay for copies that are picked up. SGA tabled the discussion until they received further information about the numbers picked up each week.
