Present: 13 Senators, Parliamentarian Nemec, Dean of Students Lindsey McPherson, UST in-house counsel Gita Bolt
Absent: Senator Lupascu, Senator Romero, Senator Nguyen, Senator Silliman, Senator Galvez
Quorum Present? Yes
(During the meeting, all members of the public were asked to leave when UST’s in-house attorney, Gita Bolt spoke to SGA. This is a developing story.)
Committee Updates: None
Old Business:
Senate Resolution 11: By-law amendments in the new constitution.
- Senate Resolution 11 was passed unanimously.
New Business:
Senate Bill 23: SCA Assistance
- Pro Tempore Aquila and an SCA representative spoke to SGA about the intramural basketball and wiffle ball tournaments that took place over the last two weeks. While the Department of Recreational Sports has usually funded such events, Aquila said this is a “unique case” where SCA has to step in to fund the intramural sports tournaments.
- SCA asked SGA for funding assistance, because they say they were not made aware they would have to fund the events until just a few weeks prior.
- SCA also requested funds to cater Yoyo’s Hot Dogs at the JAAC Pool Party on April 26.
- SCA asked for $3,350 to fund both events.
SB 23 passed with one abstention.
Senate Bill 24: Student Notebooks
- Senator Boukari proposed buying environmentally friendly notebooks with the UST logo to hand out to students at the SGA desk. She presented a budget of $968.50 for the initiative.
- SB 24 was passed unanimously.
Senate Bill 25: Prayer Shadow-Box for Guinan Hall Chapel
- Senator Maniscalo proposed adding a prayer box that would hang on the wall outside of the Guinan Hall chapel. Students would submit prayer requests in the prayer box with provided pen and paper.
- This would replace the current prayer request crosses that are outside the Guinan chapel.
- Senator Ahmed suggested that Maniscalo work with Res Council and Peer Ministers.
- SB 25 was passed unanimously.
Senate Bill 26: Spiritual Care Packs
- Senator Torres proposed handing out “spiritual care packages” to students for finals’ motivation. These packs would include rosaries, pamphlets on how to pray the rosary, St. Thomas-Aquinas prayer cards, and snacks.
- Torres presented a budget of $350.
- The bill was amended to have the event on Thursday, May 2 during activity period.
- SB 26 was passed unanimously.
Senate Bill 27: Fuel for Finals
- Senator Gutierrez proposed providing a Chick-Fil-A breakfast and papers that explain the new student government changes.
- The event was held on April 29.
- Gutierrez presented a budget of $620.
- McPherson suggested that Gutierrez should change the name of this event, because there is already an event on campus that is called “Refuel for Finals.”
- The bill was amended to change the time of the event to 9:30 a.m. instead of 10 a.m.
- SB 27 was passed unanimously.
Closing Comments:
- The vice president of the University’s Diversity and Inclusion organization submitted an appeal to the Chief Justice contesting SGA’s decision to table funding for its planned LGBT events. May 13 is the tentative date for the referendum.
- Founder’s Day was April 24. An event was held on the Campus-Life mall. UST started a crowdfunding campaign called “Giving Day” for the Founder’s Day event, where people can donate to different causes to help students.
- The Leadership Banquet was held on April 26.
- SCA raffle tickets were sold for $1 each for a chance to win an Apple Watch. All proceeds went to Celts for Cure. The raffle was held at the JAAC pool party on April 25.
The last SGA meeting will be held May 1.
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