On Wednesday, Sep. 23, Michigan Tech’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) held its fourth meeting of the semester. They celebrated another successful week of the “Sock It To Hunger” fundraiser, approved a startup budget for the all-new Skydiving Club, and discussed upcoming changes this semester.
The meeting began with USG President Ford Schoonover highlighting continued success of the “Sock It To Hunger” fundraiser which has now donated almost 150 food items and over $1,000 in monetary donations to the food pantry. Events Committee Chair Nolan Dziewit highlighted the “great engagement with the community” this event gave them. Dziewit also mentioned that the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (CFRES) raised the most for the fundraiser.
After a great deal of debate, USG narrowly passed a Ways and Means Committee (WAM) request to allocate $2,500 from the Opportunity Fund to the Skydiving Club as a starting budget for the newly formed club. This request met resistance from some members due to it consuming an eighth of the Opportunity Fund; the original request asked for $5,000, which would have been a quarter of the fund. Reductions to $2,000 and increases to $2,800 were also rejected by the USG body. The club plans to get students on their ‘first jump’ experience in Minneapolis, MN later this semester.
USG also passed a WAM request for Men’s Club Hockey. They received $1,600 from the Reserve Fund for new practice jerseys. Next week USG will vote on a $1,750 request from the Husky Amateur Radio Club to purchase and install a 30 foot radio tower near the SDC.
Conner Skalitzky, USG Treasurer, announced that a group of students would be meeting with the Provost, Andrew Storer, to represent the students opinions on the integration of AI chatbot advisors. He described that the integration would help reduce the load of questions advisors are asked and get basic answers to students quicker. The AI tool would also help map out degree paths in response to changes, like a course drop. The goal is not to replace advisors but provide help to students in degrees struggling with advisor contact.
Broomball Committee Chair, Mitchell Kelly, announced some changes for the upcoming season. New boards have been built and painted for all the Broomball rinks. Additionally, in response to difficulties in the past year, a new website is in the works to streamline team registration.
This semester, the Public Relations Committee announced the start of their new series, ‘Walk with me Wednesday.’ Every other Wednesday, a USG member will take over the Instagram story to showcase who they are, what they do, and highlight their involvement. The committee overall wants to humanize USG to the student body.
To better understand USG’s involvement at Tech, go to their Instagram @usgatmtu. The next USG meeting will be held Wednesday, Sep. 30 at 7 p.m. in the MUB Alumni Lounge.
