USG • BRIEF
Gillian Seaman
Issue date: 12/5/08 Section: News
President Myles Nickolich began the final Undergraduate Student Government General Assembly of the year Dec. 2 by thanking all the representatives for their hard work during the semester. Nickolich went on to specially mention all the representatives who would no longer be with the General Assembly next semester due to early graduation, travel, or transfer.
Sherman House freshman representative Yueh Ho was sworn in at the meeting after defeating Sultan Ahmed in last week's election.
Vice president of Student Life Ali Hasanali went on to discuss the semester successes of the Student Life committee, which included having Greenies drive to the Board of Elections, utility bills for students to use to vote, new traction strips on the elephant stairs, and the Greek recycling resolution.
Dean Wolcowitz visited the Academic Affairs committee on Nov. 19 to discuss advising questions and feedback on the committee's current projects. Vice president of Academic Affairs Jeff Zabinski noted two new additions to the group's projects for next semester: discussing the 30 hour requirement after senior status and the foreign language class credit discrepancies.
Vice president of Public Relations Bruce Douglas thanked all of the representatives who participated in administrator speed dating last week. Douglas also advised that all representatives and students attend the Thwing Study Over on Monday, Dec. 8th.
Freshman representative Matthew Napfel acted as a proxy for vice president of IT Nicole Hofert. Napfel stated that the committee had successfully allocated funds for a new printer in the USG office. Hofert will also be meeting with director of IT Operations Joel Kraft in the ensuing days to discuss the continued outages. When asked what could possibly be causing the continued problems, Napfel responded that he believed part of the problem was a new firewall but did not have specifics.
During open forum, Nickolich brought up the idea of a new campus center. The campus center idea has been floating around for nearly 20 years without results due to insufficient funds. Nickolich stated that the goal of the center would be to provide space for student organizations, a food court, and to "[turn] the heart of campus into a place where people actually want to be." President Snyder has approved the plan, but there is no specific information as to when the plan is to be implemented. There was obvious support among the GA for the center, and representative-at-large Zac Wilkins stated he believes the center would promote student unity and be incredibly beneficial to the student body as a whole.
The finance committee pushed through three bills regarding the allocations for student organizations for the upcoming year. Roughly $140,000 was distributed to over 100 organizations. The bills were passed with relative ease, causing parliamentarian Matthew Gardner to express some concern about the lack of debate.
As the meeting came to a close, members of the Freshman Caucus expressed their approval of what had transpired over the last semester. Napfel said that he was glad to have been able to speak his mind and have such an interactive experience in the GA. Raymond House freshman representative Divya Aggarwal confirmed that USG "has been a really good experience. There are a lot of leaders here who want to make a difference, and I'm glad to be a part of it."
Sherman House freshman representative Yueh Ho was sworn in at the meeting after defeating Sultan Ahmed in last week's election.
Vice president of Student Life Ali Hasanali went on to discuss the semester successes of the Student Life committee, which included having Greenies drive to the Board of Elections, utility bills for students to use to vote, new traction strips on the elephant stairs, and the Greek recycling resolution.
Dean Wolcowitz visited the Academic Affairs committee on Nov. 19 to discuss advising questions and feedback on the committee's current projects. Vice president of Academic Affairs Jeff Zabinski noted two new additions to the group's projects for next semester: discussing the 30 hour requirement after senior status and the foreign language class credit discrepancies.
Vice president of Public Relations Bruce Douglas thanked all of the representatives who participated in administrator speed dating last week. Douglas also advised that all representatives and students attend the Thwing Study Over on Monday, Dec. 8th.
Freshman representative Matthew Napfel acted as a proxy for vice president of IT Nicole Hofert. Napfel stated that the committee had successfully allocated funds for a new printer in the USG office. Hofert will also be meeting with director of IT Operations Joel Kraft in the ensuing days to discuss the continued outages. When asked what could possibly be causing the continued problems, Napfel responded that he believed part of the problem was a new firewall but did not have specifics.
During open forum, Nickolich brought up the idea of a new campus center. The campus center idea has been floating around for nearly 20 years without results due to insufficient funds. Nickolich stated that the goal of the center would be to provide space for student organizations, a food court, and to "[turn] the heart of campus into a place where people actually want to be." President Snyder has approved the plan, but there is no specific information as to when the plan is to be implemented. There was obvious support among the GA for the center, and representative-at-large Zac Wilkins stated he believes the center would promote student unity and be incredibly beneficial to the student body as a whole.
The finance committee pushed through three bills regarding the allocations for student organizations for the upcoming year. Roughly $140,000 was distributed to over 100 organizations. The bills were passed with relative ease, causing parliamentarian Matthew Gardner to express some concern about the lack of debate.
As the meeting came to a close, members of the Freshman Caucus expressed their approval of what had transpired over the last semester. Napfel said that he was glad to have been able to speak his mind and have such an interactive experience in the GA. Raymond House freshman representative Divya Aggarwal confirmed that USG "has been a really good experience. There are a lot of leaders here who want to make a difference, and I'm glad to be a part of it."
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