The second-to-last regular Senate meeting of the Student Government Association began at 6:33 p.m. on Wednesday, April 25 at the Black Box Theater in the Student Union. The FY25 S-1 budget was presented for its consideration next week and a policy recommendation for the inclusion of gender-neutral bathrooms was also introduced.
Secretary of Sustainability Jack Minella began the meeting by introducing the UMass Bottle Blast, an effort to collect data on the hydration stations on campus. The bottle fillers are not mapped and the SGA is “looking for how many bottles these hydration stations have filled,” Minella said.
After senators’ reports, the meeting moved on to report outs by chairs and secretaries. Chair Sam Tran shared updates surrounding new Registered Student Organization Groups (RSOs) Student Application Process which have started “by streamlining our Standard Operating Procedures,” Tran said.
Tran’s presentation on the State of the Registry followed his report and explained more about the new application process. Tran said that in previous years there was an application submitted about every four days, but now it’s almost one daily.
Tran said all RSOs should make sure their constitutions are up to the latest SGA Guidelines and that the groups are welcoming to all students.
Ways and Means Chair Pranav Joshi also presented his budget, known as the S-1, for how to allocate the Student Activities Trust Fund (SATF).
“Each year, the Ways and Means Committee reviewed budget requests totaling millions from all agencies, 300-plus RSOs and the SGA for the next fiscal year,” Joshi said.
In order for an RSO to submit a budget request they must be an active club, provide a list of at least 10 club members, not have a negative balance fee and they must not have a line item being requested in more than one budget.
If an RSO or Agency is unhappy with the budget proposed by the Ways and Means Committee, they can submit an appeal through the Administrative Affairs Committee. The committee then decides whether or not which groups made a valid claim and could be given a hearing.
Due to smaller enrollment and less unspent funds, RSO’s and agencies were subject to larger across-the-boards cuts this year, on average. According to the presentation Joshi gave, the smaller budget totals $6,710,670.57, more than a one million dollar decrease from the previous year.
Joshi then proposed a new system for budget cuts towards student groups which “taxes” the money RSOs get not at a flat rate, but in graduated tiers, much like an actual tax system.
“I believe this is the best way. I believe this is what RSOs want to see,” Joshi said.
The budget will be voted on next Wednesday.
Attorney General Ian Harvery continued the meeting with a presentation on the involvement of gender-inclusive restrooms on the University of Massachusetts campus.
According to Harvey, many bathrooms on the UMass campus do not accommodate gender nonconforming, nonbinary and transgender students.
The bills recommendation of gender-inclusive bathrooms does not include restrooms in residential halls due to the plumbing code. There will be a working group who will help with the creation of these bathrooms which will be a mix of undergraduate students and administrators at UMass.
The meeting came to an end with Harvey’s motion and a Non-Denominational Prayer Space Policy motion being suspended to next week, due to time.
Eva Maniatty can be reached at [email protected].
