The SGA Beat - April 17th

In a senate meeting held on the 8th floor of the Quai building on Wednesday, Senators approved a flurry of constitutional amendments and received a presentation from AUP President Sonya Stephens.

Constitutional Amendments

Graduate Vice President Megan S. started Wednesday’s meeting by putting up the semester’s amendment proposals to a full-Senate vote. Amendments, which are proposed by the judiciary committee that the graduate vice president is a part of, require a two-thirds vote from the Senate to pass. 

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The amendment proposals covered a wide range of topics in the constitution, including making public lists of committee members each semester, describing the process for creating and modifying committee bylaws, and prohibiting students from holding SGA executive offices while simultaneously belonging to AUP’s Diversity Council or the Peacock’s editorial staff.

Budget

The Senate voted to allocate €300 to Depaysants for their magazine launch party. This funding would add to the roughly €700 of funding the club had remaining from previous budget requests, with some money left over for incidental costs. 

With less than two weeks remaining in class, about €20,000 that has been allocated has not yet been spent. For some organizations, such as those who print magazines, costs are heavily weighted towards the end of the semester, since that's when the printing actually happens. According to Nicolas C., the SGA Treasurer, these costs add up to about €12,000. But it also seems that some clubs that have requested funding have either not spent that money, or have not yet submitted receipts for reimbursement. 

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As next week is the final meeting of the Senate for the semester, any clubs wishing to request funding from the SGA budget must submit their requests to the treasurer by the end of this week, for presentation and voting next week. 

President Stephens Presentation

President Stephens spoke to the Senate and other members of SGA about her long-term plans for AUP. She presented both a five-year and a fifteen-year framework for the university, and discussed the community feedback and decision making parts of the process. 

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Based on a series of surveys of students, staff, faculty, and alumni, she identified academic excellence, career preparation, scholarships and financial aid, student spaces, and DEI initiatives as places where the AUP community generally agreed progress should be made. 

Within the scope of the fifteen-year plan, she said, AUP hopes to grow its student body to around 2,000 students, with about 10% being graduate students. While she said this scaling up is not possible for every university, it would allow AUP to improve academic opportunities for students, including things like partnerships with other universities and the growth and improvement of student spaces around campus. 

Stephens identified three “arcs” of the plan: exceptional global educational experience recognized for its distinction, progress through multidimensional partnerships, and growth through connection, collaboration, and community. These arcs, she said, would guide the progress AUP makes in the long term, leading up to its 75th anniversary in 2037.