The USG held its weekly meeting on Mar. 8, finalizing E-Board and At-Large Representative elections and constitutional changes that will go to a student body vote.
Ford Schoonover was elected president with 92.09 percent of the vote. The vice-presidential race resulted in an unprecedented 86-86 tie between Nathan Lithgow and Connor Skalitsky. In a hidden-ballot tiebreaker initiated by USG President Cole Pierucki, Skalitsky secured the position. David Reeves and Becky Etten were elected as treasurer and secretary, respectively, with 95.48 percent of the vote each.
Representative elections will open on Mar. 17 at 8 a.m., and tabling will take place Wednesday in the library. First-year representative Lee Phillips won an internal vote and will carry over to a second-year representative.
USG passed two final constitutional amendments, 21-0-2 and 22-0-1. These changes remove the president, vice president, and secretary from the Ways and Means (WaM) Committee and mandate that a USG member fill a vacancy if no one volunteers. Isobel Bowker said, “This change will allow eBoard [to] be [a] better leader for the general body.”
Following USG’s constitutional revisions, the student body must vote to approve the changes. Pierucki said, “The tentative plan is to send this out at 8 a.m. on Monday.” This will be via email and contain the changes and brief explanations for each. At least 15 percent of students must vote for the changes to pass.
Moving to financial procedures, USG allocated $2,800 from the Opportunity Fund for Spring FLARE, a nonpolitical cultural appreciation event.
The SBG budget hearings concluded and will be presented next week. USG passed a letter of approval for the Experience Tech Fee automatic increase and endorsed the Oakland University Course Markings. The automatic increase would make the fee adjust for inflation similar to tuition.
For more information, visit USG office hours in MUB 113 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, or their website at usg.mtu.edu.
