By Olivia Bousquet
The Coordinator of Activities, Laman Hanifayeva, asked the Student Association Senate for money in the Activities Coordination Board entertainment budget to be moved around for better activities.
The first vote unanimously passed to move $925 of the ACB budget from films to entertainment. Hanifayeva said movie nights were not getting enough student turnout. The $925 will be used for more giveaways and game nights. The second vote unanimously passed to move $7,600 of the ACB budget from concerts to trips. Two potential trips would be bringing students snow tubing and white water rafting. Students would still need to pay a fee to attend the trips.
“We don’t have enough money in concerts to get someone relevant people want to see,” Senator Carter Mosher said.
By moving the money to trips, she thinks students will get more out of experiences. President Ahmed Metwaly also said he “received emails from students asking for trips” and expects a better turnout from the student population.
Another financial request was from the American Marketing Association. President of AMA Pilar Balader, who is also coordinator of the arts, requested $1,400 for travel expenses to a conference in Chicago. The conference is back in-person after a hiatus from the pandemic. Seven students will be attending the conference, and the $1,400 would help give $200 per person attending. Balader noted that attendees would still pay $200 to $300 out of pocket. The SA unanimously passed the $1,400 request.
In other SA news, Osamuyimen Omorogbe-Akpata was elected to the SA senate. She filled the 16th and final position on the senate. Omorogbe-Akpata was recommended for the position because she works on the finance board. She was unanimously voted in, and Metwaly swore her in afterward. Tsion Assefa was unanimously voted into the secretary position for the Academic Affairs Board. While Assefa couldn’t attend the meeting, Senator Belle Morley said they needed the position filled.
A brief public relations presentation was discussed surrounding social media. The SA’s social media sites, mainly Instagram, will post up to three times a day and promote an event once a day on its story. The presentation also noted that posters should be requested a week before the event.
Another point of discussion was the reconstruction of ACB which was presented by Senator Lisette Linares proposed for the approval of Student Bill #3, which reconstructed the Activities Coordination Board. Linares said ACB liked the legislation and informally voted on it, and it passed. The bill passed in the senate with one abstention.
For senator reports and announcements, Senator Mac-Olivier Lalanne reported that Black Solidarity Day is officially on the school calendar. Linares announced that the SA hosted a game night in the H.U.B. Feb. 26 from 6 to 8 p.m. Morley mentioned that the Academic Affairs Board met to discuss pop-up stress events for midterms and finals. A few senators reported they attended other club events; however, the majority of senators had nothing to report.
SA Advisor Jacob Avery concluded the meeting by addressing the large amount of “no reports” from senators.
“What are you doing?” Avery asked. “What are you doing to help the student body? What does the student body think of the SA?”
