The sixth SGA meeting of the fall semester took place on Wednesday, November 13th at 8:04 PM the Moore Community Room (ASAC 100). The meeting was livestreamed on the SGA’s Facebook page, so go check it out if you missed this meeting!
In student body comments, some students praised the snow plowing on the new brick paths in the Veteran’s Park, while showing dissatisfaction toward the plow job around Rita Bole.
For reports and presentations, the CAB Executive Board and some SGA members shared their story about attending the National Association for Campus Activities conference this year. NACA regularly hosts showcases, a campus activity marketplace, and educational sessions all centered around campus activities. The educational sessions focused on emotional intelligence and how to identify and regulate your emotional triggers, mindfulness and how to keep yourself calm in stressful situations, how to collaborate with other clubs, and finally how to unleash your creativity.
The financial update showed $23,428.88 for the available budget, with $56,388.88 total in the SGA account. Patrick shared an idea for a new way to work with club budgets in real-time via Self-Service. This would allow clubs to view their budgets and allow Patrick to share updates with clubs quicker. The service should be up and running by January. Patrick also talked about the 49900 Account, which is the parent account for all student activities. It has an approximate balance of $97,000 and was barely discovered before the last SGA meeting, hence why it wasn’t shared about until now. The options of what to do with the funding include doing a 45/45/10 split between CAB, SGA, and the 10% Committee, treating it like a savings account, or forming a committee around it for doing campus improvements. That council would consist of the SGA Financial Controller, a CAB representative, Michael Secreti, Erin Rossetti, and Jonathan Davis, and the improvements could range from funding the Student Pantry to more off-campus trips. The SGA will be accepting suggestions through the 10% Committee tab on their website. Patrick encouraged clubs to talk amongst themselves about their ideas on how to use the money.
In discussion and action items, a representative from HOPE came to talk about what the organization does. HOPE is a nonprofit organization that helps local families fulfill their basic needs. They have a thrift store that is supported through donations, and an emergency food shelf. Some of their contributions from the first half of the year include distributing 616 food backpacks to children in need, 633 emergency food bags, giving 78 adult and 333 children clothing vouchers, and providing 16 homeless citizens with necessities like tents, sleeping bags, clothing, and food. Groups on campus like the RAs and the softball team regularly volunteer at HOPE, and students who use their services have often given back via donations or volunteer work. If you or someone you know is in need, or if you would like to help out, contact HOPE at 802-626-3228 or visit them on 136 Church Street in Lyndonville.
Patrick addressed that there is a moral grey area in the SGA’s constitution regarding donations to outside organizations because it is unclear whether HOPE is tied to an on-campus institution or not. The constitution states that donations from the general fund can only be made to outside organizations if they are tied to a club or organization on campus. A point to consider is that HOPE is affiliated with the annual Color Run, which is run by the SGA, therefore technically tying them to a club: the SGA itself. A vote was held among the SGA to decide whether donations to HOPE would be considered constitutional, and the majority decided it was. The next meeting will discuss how much the SGA should donate.
Next up, Ben Mitchell discussed updates for Spring Events. He put together a council to plan for Spring Day and a new event called Lyndon Day, and clubs should be receiving forms soon for the latter event. Lyndon Day will be an involvement fair, while also including activities regarding the history of the college and giveaways of old Lyndon State merchandise.
After, Patrick talked about the food pantry. Sodexo made a huge donation of food to the pantry, and donation boxes will be set up in several points on campus for further contributions.
Finally, club and committee updates were made. The RAs announced that the residence halls will be closing for fall break on Saturday, November 23rd. If you plan to stay on campus, fill out the break housing form online as soon as you can. Otherwise, follow the usual protocol and clean your room as directed on the forms that will be left on your door. Since the temperature has been dropping, be sure to leave your windows closed and locked. Opening them makes your room and the rooms around you hotter as the heating system goes into overload to compensate for the cooler temperatures. Cultural Ambassador Society has teamed up with Genealogy Club to host Cookies and Cultures on December 5th, an event where stories are exchanged about holiday traditions from other cultures and where attendees can eat cookies. They are looking for contributors to share their cultures’ holiday traditions. Veteran’s Club added a new plaque to the Veteran’s Park, with 28 names being added. The next meeting will be representative Kyla Smith’s final meeting before the club’s new representative takes over in the spring semester. The Twilight Players are working on putting on their Holiday Spectacular on December 7th. Acapella is working on rehearsing for the Holiday Spectacular and ordering new uniforms for the club. Finally, the 10% Committee has ordered new furniture and a new pool table for the Whitelaw/Crevecoeur lounge.
The meeting ended at 9:24 PM. Our next meeting will be after break, on Wednesday, December 4th, same time and same place. We hope to see you there!