USG Briefs
Gillian Seaman
Issue date: 11/6/09 Section: News
Tuesday's Undergraduate Student Government General Assembly began with president Duwain Pinder announcing the creation of the transparency ad-hoc committee. The committee will be charged with keeping the undergraduate student body informed about University changes, updates, and events that directly effect the student experience. The committee will also be working with the USG public relations committee to publicize relevant information. Representative Jared Hamilton is the chair and can be contacted at jjh24@case.edu.
The meeting quickly became tense, thanks to a couple of new resolutions up for debate. "We do have some controversial pieces of legislation," said Pinder, "so please keep the debate civil. Because that is how we do things in USG."
The resolutions Pinder was referring to were Resolution R. 19-05, A resolution to Recommend Changes to the Awarding of Merit Scholarships, and Resolution R. 19-04, A Resolution to Advance Undergraduate Access to International Learning Experiences.
R.19-05 was clearly the most contentious. Authored by Lea Cross, representative Katie Haas and vice president Shengbo Wang, the resolution called for all students to have equal access to the merit scholarships offered at the end of the academic year. Currently, only those students who have not received a merit scholarship may apply.
"The point is that many students are interested in applying for an upgrade," stated Cross. Cross then stressed that the total amount of scholarships would remain the same. According to Cross, if a student did upgrade from a provost to a trustees scholarship, their provost scholarship would then be available to other students.
While Cross did have support, freshman representative Doug Brubaker expressed his vehement disapproval of the resolution. "These scholarships are designed to give students another chance," he said. "Should we let students increase their scholarships when others have none?"
The nursing caucus representatives also loudly objected to the wording of the resolution, arguing that since the resolution did not affect them the clause, "Whereas, the Undergraduate Student Government aims to represent all students on campus" was inappropriate. Nursing students currently are not eligible for the provost, president, or trustee scholarships.
The meeting quickly became tense, thanks to a couple of new resolutions up for debate. "We do have some controversial pieces of legislation," said Pinder, "so please keep the debate civil. Because that is how we do things in USG."
The resolutions Pinder was referring to were Resolution R. 19-05, A resolution to Recommend Changes to the Awarding of Merit Scholarships, and Resolution R. 19-04, A Resolution to Advance Undergraduate Access to International Learning Experiences.
R.19-05 was clearly the most contentious. Authored by Lea Cross, representative Katie Haas and vice president Shengbo Wang, the resolution called for all students to have equal access to the merit scholarships offered at the end of the academic year. Currently, only those students who have not received a merit scholarship may apply.
"The point is that many students are interested in applying for an upgrade," stated Cross. Cross then stressed that the total amount of scholarships would remain the same. According to Cross, if a student did upgrade from a provost to a trustees scholarship, their provost scholarship would then be available to other students.
While Cross did have support, freshman representative Doug Brubaker expressed his vehement disapproval of the resolution. "These scholarships are designed to give students another chance," he said. "Should we let students increase their scholarships when others have none?"
The nursing caucus representatives also loudly objected to the wording of the resolution, arguing that since the resolution did not affect them the clause, "Whereas, the Undergraduate Student Government aims to represent all students on campus" was inappropriate. Nursing students currently are not eligible for the provost, president, or trustee scholarships.
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