Plans for future changes to the function of UMaine Student Government, along with several proposals for the upcoming semester were on the agenda along with the conclusion of the election of new senators to committee positions at the Dec. 2 meeting of UMSG Inc.’s General Student Senate.
Vice President’s report
In his report, Vice President Trey Stewart gave an update on the new senate districting program, which will see senators assigned to represent certain sects or ‘districts’ of the on-campus student population and air any concerns they may have.
According to Stewart, the basic program has been completed and is set to be implemented next semester with a training program for senators so that they can learn their responsibilities before it is enacted.
The vote on whether or not to disable funding to student political groups was also postponed until the Dec. 9 meeting due to a lack of feedback from senators.
Updated Laundry funds policy
After President Justin Conant’s original proposal to change the Laundry funds policy was found to be out of order, Conant returned with an updated iteration with the help of Sen. Bradley Gannon from Policy and Procedure.
“We took everything iterated to us and made a new resolution,” Conant said. “I did the baseline and Bradley did updates.”
The proposal would give first-year students options for $75 and $0 in addition to the $25 and $50 options that are already available. The intention is for students who may live in the vicinity of the university to choose the $0 option while out-of-state students choose the maximum, with the unused funds being distributed according to need.
After airing the new proposal to the senate, Sen. Matthew Beauregard came up with the suggestion of adding a $15 option to the $0, $25, $50 and $75 options in the original proposal. This would give another option that is still lower than the $25 minimum currently offered while still giving students some sort of aid.
The amendment found favor among the senate and was passed.
The proposal was passed and will now be sent to the University administration as a recommended change to make. If enacted, the proposal would take effect at the start of the 2015-16 school year.
Turf Field feasibility study gets go ahead
The senate unanimously passed the proposal for a feasibility study that would determine the possibility of a new turf field for intramural sports teams.
Dodge Tucker, president of the Intramural Sports Council, along with Conant presented on the idea, which was originally brought forward by Conant a month beforehand.
“We have a Top 10 Rec. Center. Every other university has an outdoor facility to match that,” Tucker said.
According to Tucker, 20 percent of the student body participates in intramural sports programs. With a field dedicated to intramurals, teams would not have to vacate the field to make way for teams in the university athletic department and would have their own place to practice.
The current estimated cost of the field is about $3 million, a number which, according to Tucker, would be verified or adjusted based on the findings of the study.
Policy revision for interactions between Executive Budgetary Committee and Student Entertainment
An policy revision was proposed by the Gannon, head of the Policy and Procedures Committee to increase the amount of communication between Student Entertainment and the Executive Budgetary Committee (EBC) in order to keep the EBC better informed of contract negotiations between Student Entertainment and potential artists.
“We’d like to specifically know about when money is going to change hands,” Gannon said.
The primary concern was that verbal contracts made between Student Entertainment executives and artists for shows were leading to actual contracts without the EBC knowing. To amend this, Sen. Gannon proposed that the revision read that the vice president of student entertainment report to EBC when Student Entertainment offers or plans to offer payment to any kind of artist.
The amendment passed unanimously.
“This is long overdue. Some communication will help so this is great,” Sen. Caroline Harvey said.
Nominations and elections
Many incumbent senators ran unopposed for their committee seats and ultimately retained them.
Harvey came out on top in a three way race for chair of the Services Committee, retaining her seat against Sens. Beauregard and Lawrence.
“I’ve been on senate since my first semester. I really enjoy being the chair of the Services Committee, it’s really cool to get things changed,” Harvey said.
Sen. Shaun McDonnell was nominated and elected to become the first official Old Town City Council Liaison for GSS.