The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) met in the MUB Alumni Lounge on Wednesday, Nov. 19, for its weekly meeting.
The first matter of business was David Reeves, USG Treasurer, speaking on changes being made for Registered Student Organisations (RSOs) receiving funding for cultural foods. Currently, RSOs cannot receive funding from USG to purchase food unless it falls under the exception made for cultural foods. USG does not currently have a solid definition of what counts as “cultural” food, addressing this definition is the goal of Reeves’s proposal.
The proposal would change the “cultural food” definition to be “artistic, cultural, and educational experiences.” So long as the food has been altered in some artistic, cultural, or educational way and is an experience directly offered to students at Michigan Tech, it falls under the new exception. This lets RSOs such as the Baking Club receive funding to teach students how to bake, but keeps a members-only pizza party off the table. This change will be voted on in the next USG meeting on Nov. 26. RSOs should have received a notification about the change over break, and info sessions will be held in January.
The President of USG, Ford Schoonover, will be giving a presentation to the university Board of Trustees in an upcoming meeting. Schoonover will be explaining the campus impact that the money allocated to USG and RSOs has had, to generally showcase USG’s work during the past semester. Key points included the 2,000 man-hours spent on the break-buses, tax support for RSOs, and the amount of RSO budget remaining.
Three Ways and Means (WAM) requests were covered at the last meeting. The Mahjong Club received $515 for a new board. WAM’s recommendation passed with no discussion 26-0-2. The Roller Hockey Club received $2,014 for new jerseys and pants. The club was there to represent themselves, stating that the jerseys are required equipment and will last four years. The recommendation passed 2-1-2. The Keweenaw Rocket Range (KRR) received $1,500 for a roll-control payload. A representative from KRR attended, stating that the money is to build a required payload for an upcoming competition. The WAM recommendation would not cover the entire cost of making the payload, but they were hesitant to allocate more due to the sudden, unexpected cost and the one-time use of the payload. The recommendation passed 28-0-1.
There is an upcoming WAM recommendation of $15,000 to Sound and Lighting Services (SLS) for a new pair of spotlights for hockey. This is down from the $18,000 SLS originally requested.
USG also passed many proposed changes to their bylaws last meeting. Six sections of the USG’s bylaws are being amended and one additional section is being added. For brevity, only those changes most influential to students have been listed. For more information, check the USG minutes for Nov. 12 and Nov. 19.
Bylaw amendment number six defines the procedure for creating and disbanding ad-hoc committees, as it had not been formally defined before.
An amendment to Article V, Section 4 will create a new position in the USG’s Events Committee. The break bus coordinator will be created to organise break bus events. Given the success of the break bus, with the most recent winter break bus selling out in less than eight minutes, the new position will take responsibility for the growing service.
Amendments to article V, sections six and seven, move procedures for USG personnel and the judiciary from the USG constitution into the bylaws, making them easier to change in the future. Changes to bylaws also happen during open meetings, while constitutional revisions are closed.
An amendment to Article III, Section 2 allows the USG Vice President to mandate more office hours for members. The bylaws already mandate that USG members must spend time in the USG office. The change is mostly moving procedures from the constitution into the bylaws, but it also clarifies that the Vice President gets final say on the number of required office hours.
USG did not meet over Thanksgiving break. Their next meeting will be on Wednesday, Dec. 3, where they will be voting on allocating funding to SLS and on the changes to the definition of cultural foods. You can find all of USG’s meeting minutes at their website at usg.mtu.edu
