The final SGA meeting of the Fall 2018 semester took place on December 12th at 8:10PM in ASAC 216. As per usual, it was streamed on Facebook Live, so go check that out if it piques your interest.
Last time, I said that Johnson’s SGA crew would be coming to this meeting, but that didn’t end up coming through, due to finals week being around the corner for both campuses. Johnson will still come to one of our meetings sometime next semester.
There were a lot of student body comments during this meeting. A quick idea for a club was pitched called the First Generation Student Club. This would be a time and place for first-generation college students to come together and discuss their feelings and problems about their status. A first generation college student is a student whose parents never went to college. The club was just an idea to think about, so it wasn’t voted upon. Meanwhile, the Outing Club motioned to be allowed to request funding later in the meeting, which was accepted with a majority vote.
During discussion, the Outing Club pitched their funding request. They wanted to buy SNOGO bikes for the Adventure Program, which are basically bicycles with skis instead of wheels. The club stated they could be used at Jay Peak and possibly Burke, as well as on campus. Like the mountain bikes they purchased earlier in the semester, the SNOGOs would be rentable with similar rules and guidelines, and stored under HAC. These bikes are unique, so much so that no other school around owns them, which would also help NVU Lyndon stand out among the competition. The bikes are quite expensive though, normally costing $1,750 apiece. With the purchase of five bikes, the cost would be $5,500 at $1,049 per bike. The motion passed to give the Outing Club the $5,500 they would need to purchase five bikes with a majority vote.
The Model UN also pitched a funding request during this segment. They are attending a huge Model UN conference in the spring and will be representing Finland. They requested $648.48 to cover a small chunk of their expenses to go on that trip, listing out their other expenses they are planning to cover themselves. The conference cost itself is $1,405, the hotel fee is $1,325, and transportation would be $1,418.68. The motion passed to give them the $648.48 with a majority vote. The general fund is listed as $39,397.75 for the moment, and individual club funds are listed in the livestream if you wish to check them out for yourself.
In reports and presentations, a few students came up to discuss some ideas to utilize the Library Pond during the winter. They felt like the pond wasn’t being used and wanted to bring it back to the way it used to be, and the root of the problem was determined to be the anxiety surrounding the ice thickness. I’m sure you’ve noticed the signs around the pond saying to stay off, but those are really meant to keep you from walking on thin ice, and that shouldn’t be a huge concern now that we’re well into the cold season. Jonathan Davis will be taking the signs down and will put them back if the ice thins out. The group of students also proposed a way to keep track of the ice thickness. They suggested setting up a few stations around the pond and having Public Safety come twice a day to measure the thickness of the ice, around 9:00AM and 9:00PM, so they can properly determine whether it’s safe to walk on.
In other news, Jake Fortin presented a possible design for the coffee stickers, which would be an alternative for the SGA coffee mugs. These stickers would be able to be applied to any mug, allowing you to take advantage of the free coffee given out at the Hornet’s Nest on Wednesdays. The sticker design features the SGA logo’s version of the Lyndon Hornet with some additional text stating its purpose. Bryanna Smith volunteered to refine the design, changing the hornet’s gavel into a coffee mug.
President Collins attended the meeting and took some time to speak. She said spring applications were up 20%, which is a major improvement from the past few years, and the fall applications had also risen since last year. Collins also addressed the complaints people had with the exam schedule, which notoriously created conflicts for multiple students by having their exam periods overlap. She said that the EMS system was used for the first time to make that schedule, and that it was bound to make a few mistakes. She promised the system wouldn’t be used again in the future, and that a new system would be used instead. Finally, she addressed the controversy over what college name could be put on students’ diplomas. Many students who had attended when the name Lyndon State College was still in place want to have the option to get an honorary diploma with that name on it, as they didn’t choose to attend Northern Vermont University: Lyndon. Of course, graduates this school year had the choice of what name to put on their diplomas, but for the moment they are the only ones with that choice. Collins was open to the idea, so we will have to see where that goes in the future.
At club updates, the 10% Committee presented a list of things they would like to change on campus. This includes erecting a hornet statue somewhere on campus, tending more to the foliage and plants to beautify the campus, and putting up more Lyndon signage. They also want to update the charging table in the Student Center, as it still has outdated chargers that most phones don’t use nowadays. The chargers would be updated, and the committee is even considering adding wireless chargers to the table, which would change your phone as easily as putting it down on the table. They are also considering building a second charging table to put in the ATT lobby. The committee would also like to install a slushy machine and an additional bottle-filling station. A bigger project would be to repair the Veteran’s Park in collaboration with the Veteran’s Club.
The meeting ended at 9:59PM. The next SGA meeting won’t be until the start of next semester, so have a wonderful break, and Happy Holidays from The Critic staff!