At this meeting, the University Sponsored Organization (USO) budget requests continued. Campus Publications, including the Trinitonian and the Mirage, and the Trinity University Volunteer Action Community (TUVAC) presented. Since these were the last of the budget presentations, the Senate was able to begin voting on the USO budgets.

Campus Publications
Juniors Logan Crews and Alejandra Gerlach presented on behalf of the Trinitonian, and junior Emma Leslie and sophomore Alyssa White presented on behalf of the Mirage. Crews and Gerlach noted that the biggest change reflected in the increased Trinitonian budget request was next year’s return to weekly printing, in addition to travel money for a journalism convention. Leslie and White also requested a budget increase due to the yearbook team’s desire to start selling merchandise and increase the number of books produced. Leslie and White also noted that they made cuts in terms of roles within the yearbook, removing two editor positions.

Advisor Jamie Thompson reminded SGA that Campus Publications and Recreational Sports work differently from the other USOs in terms of funding. The Student Activity Fee (SAF) subsidizes Campus Publications, considering how difficult it is to make student journalism profitable. Based on the constitution, SGA must fund at least the five-year average for the Trinitonian, Mirage and Recreational Sports.

TUVAC
The final budget presentation was given by senior Brynne Stevens and junior Tim Mose to request funding for TUVAC. TUVAC is unique in that it has been compensating the students on the executive board for several years, which is currently made up of six positions. Stevens and Mose informed SGA that their bigger expenses would be adding a seventh executive, a social justice volunteer coordinator, and increasing the wages for the executive board from minimum wage, in addition to expanding large-scale events and collaborations with other groups.

Voting
With the last of the USO presentations completed, Vice President Nasim Salehitezangi brought everyone’s attention to the document outlining the funding requests of each USO. After some discussion about the SAF, President Oliver Chapin-Eiserloh suggested that SGA vote on the Campus Publications requests, since they had already been approved by the Publication Board.

Vice President Salehitezangi said they should start with the Mirage. Sophomore Senator Danny Nguyen motioned to fully fund the Mirage’s $42,050 request. Sophomore Senator Jack Maxwell seconded the motion, and all senators voted in favor. Senator Maxwell then motioned to fully fund the Trinitonian’s $56,650 request, which Senator Nguyen seconded. Again, the Senators voted unanimously to approve the budget.

The topic then shifted to Recreational Sports, where there were some concerns about particular line items. Senior Senator Samuel Grimsley raised the question of whether employee programming was entirely necessary. Senator Maxwell commented that conferences would be easy to cut. Senator Grimsley motioned to partially fund Recreational Sports, which Junior Senator Donya Ahmadi seconded. The Senators voted unanimously in favor of the partial funding. Vice President Salehitezangi noted that organizations can always come to SGA during the semester to request more funding.

SGA then discussed Greek Council’s request, made at the previous meeting, which Senator Nguyen noted had the most marginal increase requested. First-year Senator Ella Charbonnet motioned to fully fund Greek Council, which Senator Maxwell seconded. All Senators voted in favor except for Senator Grimsley, who wanted more discussion about particular line items, so the motion passed. After that vote, too many Senators had left and quorum was lost, so voting would not continue until the next meeting.

Climate Check
The meeting concluded with a brief Climate Check. Senator Maxwell brought up the issue of students getting deadnamed at Einstein’s and other dining locations around campus, as employees will often use the name on the TigerCard. President Chapin-Eiserloh suggested emailing Food Service Director Charles Robles, and Advisor Thompson said he should copy Dean Brown.

Senator Nguyen discussed the issues students had been having with housing selection, and President Chapin-Eiserloh said that Director of Residential Life Bret Biance was working with Dean Brown to address them.