This week on SGA, senators brought up unchanged water filters, the menstrual product initiative and complaints about Mabee Dining Hall during climate check. Student organizations then presented funding requests, all of which were fully funded, apart from TULA’s Viva Las Americas event, Triniteers’ rush and the Burgundy Label, which were partially funded. Officers then discussed Halloween on Oakmont and the Youth Voter and Poll Worker event.
CLIMATE CHECK
Senior Senator Blaine Martin opened by addressing student complaints about the water station filters displaying red lights, indicating that the filters needed to be replaced. Chief of Staff Harrison Tinker initiated an inventory of filters last year, but it “didn’t pan out” because his volunteers were too busy. He mentioned that Ernesto Gonzalez is the contact for future initiatives.
President Joy Areola shared that the stations run on different timing. Chief of Staff Tinker suggested that another potential issue was that one “can just press a button on the inside” of the machine to turn the light green. Senator Martin volunteered to contact Ernesto to launch the process.
Assistant Treasurer Khushi Kakadia brought up last year’s menstrual product initiative, in which SGA had planned to distribute menstrual products in campus bathrooms. Collaborations Chair Dawson Wolff stated that volunteers would get together next Wednesday to organize everything. Kakadia volunteered to help out.
Treasurer John Ferretti discussed student worries about Mabee Dining Hall, concerning the alleged food poisonings and associations with Norovirus. Senator Ferretti stated that some students were using Mabee as a “scapegoat.” Chief of Staff Tinker urged members to “report immediately” if there was an issue with food. President Areola decided that she “might do a sitdown with Chase [Taylor, Resident District Manager].”
FUNDING REQUESTS
Before bringing out student organizations, Vice President Allison Waters reminded everyone of the “funding limitations” of SGA, including not funding alcohol or Greek life third rounds. The Finance Committee had also voted to limit each Greek organization to a total of $1,500 for the first two rounds. Treasurer Ferretti questioned the transparency behind the budget once given to organizations, wondering “what’s to stop anyone from requesting [money] for bullshit anyway?” Vice President Waters responded that “we believe in good faith and that all the orgs have the best interest at heart.”
Andrew Phillips, producer of Rocky Horror Picture Show (Rocky), presented a budget proposal for the production. He reasoned that Rocky “is a cult classic film” and deserves a proper budget. He emphasized the importance of this tradition, noting that this will be the seventh year that TUPS will be putting on Rocky. “I think it is a testament to the value it adds to the community,” Phillip said. The total budget request was $2,250.00 for makeup, corsets and props. The motion passed to fully fund the budget with nine votes for “yes” and one vote for “no.”
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The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) brought forth a budget proposal of $3,334.00 to allow four members to travel to the SWE Conference. SWE Treasurer Dawson Durr argued that the Trinity “career fair has pretty slim picking for engineer[ing] students,” and the SWE Conference is the largest conference in the nation for women in engineering. The money would be used to reimburse 75 percent of travel spending. The club would contribute about half of the working budget. SGA unanimously voted to grant the full budget.
Audrey Tollet, president of Gaming Club, requested a fund of $1,532.88 for the spring Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) E-sports Showdown. Tollet argued that the event would be beneficial for students in numerous ways, and that the team got second place for Smash last year. The motion passed to fully fund the club, with one member abstaining and nine votes for “yes.”
Treasurer Maddy Early presented the Burgundy Label’s initial club funding. This new club on campus is a fashion magazine with over 40 active members. Early discussed the club goals in creating fashion media and printing physical magazines each semester. Currently, they plan for their first publication to come out in February. Overall, the budget of $4,251.85 included purchases of a camera, backdrop and multiple editing tools.
Early argued that one of these editing tools, Grammarly Premium, would allow the writers to “write freely without worrying about grammar.” SGA members mentioned free alternatives to the requested purchases and encouraged the club to review their current resources. Sophomore Senator Patricia Hermoso mentioned that “I don’t think it is professional to ask for that much” without proper research. Many other SGA members agreed with this sentiment. After noticing that the presentation was misspelled, Hermoso said that “maybe we should add Grammarly if they can’t write Grammarly correctly.” President Areola argued that clubs, especially new ones, don’t necessarily know the resources available to them and it is SGA’s responsibility to explain the options. Vice President Waters urged members to look at the presentations with a critical eye but also give people grace. SGA motioned unanimously to table the request until the end of the meeting.
Akshaya Ranjit, South Asian Student Association (SASA) Vice President, Diya Joshy, SASA Social Chair, and Amber Fournet, Chinese Culture and Language Association (CLCA) treasurer, requested a budget for their collaborative Bombay to Beijing event. They plan to spend their proposed budget of $1,541.35 on supplies for cultural activities and Indo-Chinese food. SGA unanimously agreed to fund the full budget.
Ranjit and Joshy presented a budget for a series of SASA events to happen on the first Friday of every month for the remainder of the semester as a chance for students to learn about South Asian culture through free food. They requested a budget of $1,702.17 for events on Oct. 4, Nov. 1 and Dec. 6. All three motions passed with a unanimous vote for “yes.”
The Trinity University Debate Team presented a budget of $4,065.90 to attend the Harvard Debate Tournament. Debate President Brooklyn King remarked on the importance of the tournament, stating that being invited was an honor and that the “high caliber tournament would allow [them] to engage with the best debaters in the country.” The club would be covering the participation fee, but requested SGA provide costs for hotels and flights for the six chosen members. SGA unanimously voted in favor of fully covering the requested cost.
President Theophane Polydoros and Vice President Emi Fisher requested $1,610.45 for seven performance uniforms for the Prowlers Dance team. Polydoros commented that they “anticipate it to be [their] last request.” DEI Chair Trinity Hatchett commented that they have apparently been promising this for several years. The motion was eventually unanimously fully funded.
The Triniteers presented a budget request for their second round. Treasurer Jo Wolken quickly explained that the fraternity changed the budget from $1,843.49 to $1,125.46 because of the new SGA funding limit per Greek organization. Wolken asserted that “as a smaller organization, we need events like this to be successful and be willing to grow.” As their first round budget was $374.54, this budget request would put them cleanly at $1,500. There was some concern amongst SGA members since the Triniteers had not sent in their new budget request and SGA was required to vote on the old one. The members were able to get around the technicality by proposing a modified budget to partially fund six lanes and exact amount of food that allows for it to equal $1,125.46. The motion passed with eight votes for and two abstaining.
The Trinity University Latino Association (TULA) proposed a budget for their Viva Las Americas event. President Melissa Rosario stated that the event would be a “vibrant celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month to celebrate Latinx culture.” The request was for $7,932.45, with roughly $5,000 of the funds going towards hiring Vanita Leo to play the event. Senator Hermoso mentioned that “I think it’s a great organization, I am Latina myself, but I think $7,000 is a lot for an event.” Treasurer Ferretti stated “Respectfully, that is very expensive.” SGA decided on a partial budget of $2,524.45, which accounted for everything but the music.
SGA returned back to the Burgundy Label budget after finishing the other budget requests. Vice President Waters realized that the group left Grammarly out of their total budget sum and the actual number was $4,251.85. The group decided to request a partial budget of $894.98 to fund Blurb (publishing means), a studio panel kit and paper backdrop. Senator Delhagen considered this to be a good amount of money “to get them off the ground.” The vote was seven in favor and three against.
OFFICER REPORTS
Advisor Thomson mentioned SGA’s collaboration with Halloween on Oakmont. The counsel signed up volunteer members to distribute candy to the houses.
Senator Delhagen and Advisor Thomson presented the Youth Voter and Poll Worker event on Sept. 27. The event will take place in the Laurie Auditorium from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thomson considered it to be a “great opportunity to network with elected officials present” and “engage in community.”
President Areola concluded the meeting by stating that they “were scammed” by Custom Ink, as the company redid their logo on their SGA sweatshirts without telling them, spelling the word “GOVERMANT.” The organization reordered it.
