The SGA Beat - Jan 15th

The Student Senate reconvened Wednesday for their first session of the semester in the Combes building. These sessions are opportunities for senators to hear about activities and events happening on campus and for clubs to present their budget proposals for approval.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The meeting kicked off with a brief announcements section that included the coming elections. Several senate positions are up and running and will close on Sunday, January 19. Delaney C., the Undergraduate Vice-President, directed each senate committee to check in with each other during the course of the next week.

BUDGET

Photo Credit: Liam Kuhns

Most student budget requests will be heard in the coming weeks, all budgets must be passed through the Activities & Club Committee before making its way to Senate. Two budgets were marked as “time-sensitive” and were presented at this first meeting.

Lilly M, there representing on behalf of Deeda A, proposed a budget of €843 which would pay for a guest speaker event held on the January 21 in Quai room 801. The speaker event will include four speakers and one moderator, and broken down, the budget includes €600 for the speaker fees and €200-300 for refreshments.

The representative for the club answered questions about the cost breakdown of the speaker fees, which included €100 for travel costs for one of the speakers coming in from the Hague, Netherlands. All speakers were offered a paid dinner instead of a cash fee, which the representative explained was cheaper than a full speaker fee. The request was granted in a unanimous vote.

The events coordinator from Vivre, AUP’s performing arts company, requested €539.53 for a play being organised. The club was allowed to skip the Activities & Clubs Committee meeting as they are legally required to pay actors before hiring. The motion was passed, granting the club the budget request in full.

TOWN HALL

A suggestion made by several senators, as well as Marc Montheard, AUP’s Vice President for Student Services and Security, was made to create a potential “town hall” meeting once a month, following a set of frustrated remarks from multiple senators that the Senate meeting does not include allocated time to discuss issues surrounding campus life. It was recommended that these would have a specific theme.