The Student Government Association Senate was called to order on Wednesday, April 19. The meeting covered the academic calendar, RSO funding and the transition process.

Senators are preparing for the transition to the next year, with the speaker election scheduled for next week. Speaker Claire Sheedy implored those who want to run to speak with her before next week’s meeting to better facilitate the transition.

Secretary of Finance Joshua Gauthier, who is the Vice President-elect, reminded senators that applications for the cabinet will close at midnight. There will be “no exchanges, refunds or reimbursement,” he said jokingly. Along with the transition, Gauthier has been working to aid the UPC funding process for next year, after UPC failed to submit a budget for this semester.

Secretary of the Registry Zachary Bhattacharjee has continued work on the RSO funding process, which is “going well.” He’s working on transitioning the funding for greek life and campus recreation and securing space for RSOs in Bartlett Hall.

The SGA is continuing to work on reviewing the academic calendar. Secretary Tess Weisman announced that the SGA will send a survey poll out to students to ask for their thoughts on the proposed set of academic calendars. The poll will close on May 1, and the faculty senate will meet on May 4 to vote on the next three years of school calendars. If the measure does not pass, the calendar committee will immediately meet to kick off a process that aims to have an approved calendar by the end of next year.

Chair Harvey was “excited to announce that SGA will be funding ESOs with an additional $330,000 compared to last year.” Provisionally, this means that six out of the nine RSO councils (academic, advocacy, arts & media, club sports, cultural and recreation) will receive a larger allocation.

The meeting happened in a rushed manner and the planned break for those observing Ramadan did not occur due to the meeting ending before sunset. R.L. Stine was preparing to speak in the ballroom next to the meeting, and senators kept sneaking glances at the growing line. When asked if the Senate had reason to go into the Committee of the Whole, Chair Sheedy was met with a firm no from the front of the Senate. The meeting adjourned after 23 minutes, ending in cheers.

Daniel Frank can be reached at [email protected].