The Student Government Association at the University of Massachusetts passed a motion at its weekly meeting Wednesday night related to the University’s policy regarding on-campus students receiving packages during the sequester period.
The UMass website says that “students will be asked to limit packages sent to campus to one item per week” for the spring 2021 semester.
The motion noted that many students receive medication or personal hygiene items through the mail, and that “many students are not permitted to pick up these essential items due to the University-mandated self-sequestration period and delivery limit.”
The SGA voted to request “an immediate cessation of or increase to the current one-package-per-week limits,” until the end of the self-sequester period, and until the University consults with student leadership.
Carla Montilla Jaimes, the secretary of diversity, also noted another issue with UMass’ mail system: “It takes them a long time to process, so you get a notification that your package got delivered, but it might take like three or four days for them to actually process that.”
SGA election’s nominations at UMass will begin Tuesday and will happen virtually.
“It’s not safe to have any in-person activities, especially since we are in high-risk,” said Speaker Julia Fox.
Sonya Epstein, the current SGA president, encouraged anyone considering running for president to speak with them in order to get a full understanding of the position.
SGA Advisor Lydia Washington also advised students considering running for any position to meet with her before campaign season begins.
“These positions look really cool, you’re like, ‘Oh it’s on my resume,’ but there’s a lot of stuff that you don’t know until you’re in these roles,” said Washington. “You have to know the good as well as the challenges.”
The SGA appointed Nathaniel Lilly, a junior legal studies major, as special assistant to the administrative affairs committee. “I’m really looking forward to helping in any way, shape or form I can,” said Lilly.
Fox also noted that next week’s meeting will be held on Monday because of Wellbeing Wednesday.
“It should be a true break from everything, if that’s truly possible,” said Fox.
The chair of the finance committee, Prabhu Rajkumar, announced that the finance committee will now be accepting emergency funding requests, as well as RSO start-up fund requests.
“If you know anyone in an RSO who would like to apply for some emergency funding, or if they started a new RSO and want some start-up funds, please do not hesitate to ask them to reach out to me, and I can guide them through this process step by step,” said Rajkumar.
Correction: The motion regarding on-campus mail was withdrawn and not voted on due to the University changing the policy prior to the Wednesday senate meeting.
Sophia Gardner can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @sophieegardnerr.
