On Wednesday, Feb. 19, the Student Government Association (SGA) held its 1930th Regular Senate meeting in the Cape Cod Lounge at the Student Union. During the meeting, the Senate appointed two new secretaries and voted to grant emergency funding to the UMass Jazba dance team.

The meeting, which featured several newly-appointed Senators, was called to order at 6:30 p.m. During announcements, Associate Speaker of the Senate Melena Amoratis issued a warning to the senators regarding attendance at the regular weekly meetings. “It’s my responsibility as associate speaker to ensure that you know your constituents who voted for you, and see that you are attending these meetings,” Amoratis said.

During the Committee of the Whole, Chair of the Outreach and Development Committee Ishaan Singh Sarna encouraged senators to sign up for election tabling, which begins on March 4, the same day election voting opens throughout campus.

A motion was then passed to appoint Hadiya Ahmad to the position of Secretary of Public Relations and Marketing. Ahmad, an economics and legal studies double-major, previously held the position last academic year. This semester, Ahmad was serving as acting secretary of PR and marketing, filling in a vacancy for the position. According to President Colin Humphries, the SGA is allowed to appoint an acting secretary for up to 30 days.

When asked what she is most looking forward to working on in the role, Ahmad said that she’s excited to do PR work for the upcoming SGA election. “A lot of people learn what SGA is when it’s election time,” Ahmad said. “It’s a really rewarding experience just working with students that you directly affect sometimes. So I’m really excited about that.”

Another motion was passed to appoint Amina Mussina to the position of Undersecretary of the Registry. Mussina, a sophomore double-majoring in operations and information management and hospitality and tourism management. She also a member of multiple Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), including the Student Alumni Association, where she serves as a content creator and ambassador. In this position, Undersecretary Mussina will work under current Secretary of the Registry Ranya Merchant.

The Senate then passed a motion to supply the UMass Jazba dance team with approximately $17,726.08 in emergency funding. According to representatives from the team, Jazba needs the emergency funding to cover travel costs to multiple dance competitions in San Diego, CA and Raleigh, NC, where the team will compete in semi-finals. The team plans to fly to San Diego but will drive to Raleigh using rental cars.

Additionally, the team has seen significant growth, going from 21 to 28 members in just one year. According to the team’s representatives, these additional members would have to pay out of pocket without the emergency funding.

According to Ways and Means committee chair Maia Shteyman, the SGA had approximately $20,000 left in emergency funding, but after granting Jazba’s emergency funding request, the SGA will only have around $3,000 left.

During his officer report, President Humphries stressed this lack of emergency funding budget. “I think that the one thing that did become apparently clear tonight is there is a need for some sort of cap on the emergency funding, because we are out and it’s February. So that is something we will be moving forward with,” Humphries said.

In addition, Humphries emphasized the importance of getting student voter turnout for the upcoming SGA elections. “Remember, the higher the turnout is for the election, the more seriously SGA gets taken,” Humphries said. “So we really want to get more and more students involved in this process. Last year we had 12.5% [voter turnout] which, believe it or not, was a record for recent years at SGA. However, that is far from adequate.”

Following the conclusion of Officer Reports and the Senate Committee Reports, Associate Speaker Amoratis held the ending roll call. The meeting was adjourned at 8:21 p.m., after 1 hour and 51 minutes.

Nathan Legare can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X (formerly Twitter) at @Legare_Nathan.