SGA: Board of Trustees responds to withdrawl fee
On Feb. 5, the Board of Trustees held their public meetings. The Student Government Association's President, Tyler Zimmerman, attended this meeting and informed the board that SGA had passed a legislation aiming to eliminate the $50 withdrawal fee.
The Board recognized these concerns and began questioning the administration about the purpose of the fee and where that money would be going.
"The overall takeaway is that they're reevaluating if this fee is the best course of action," Zimmerman said.
SGA Vice President Ryan Biller said the Board requested administration to research where the money from these kinds of fees go, and they expect to have a report ready by the following Board of Trustees meeting in April.
"The trustees are definitely interested in exploring it further to see the data and hold the administration accountable," Biller said.
Zimmerman said he was happy to present an issue that the student body cares about to the board. He said that while the report is due at the next board meeting, the administration won't make any decisions on the fee until June.
"I earnestly hope that administration will consider and explore more student friendly policies," he said.
Guest speaker from Ignite Donuts
Casey Croad is a CMU alumna, former SGA member and the founder of Ignite Donuts. He came to the meeting last night to share his story and to offer employment and mentorship opportunities to current SGA members.
"When I was a student, I had this vision to create something out of nothing," Croad said.
He wanted to create a business similar to Insomnia Cookies, but with donuts being delivered instead. He talked about how he competed in business events and eventually met his first investor, John Kulhavi.
He said pursuing this goal while he was still a student wasn't easy, and he didn't know what he was doing all of the time.
"As I continued to push myself forward in the direction of just loving and serving others, my idea started to solidify and the vision started to become fruitful."
It wasn't until two years ago that Croad opened his first store location in the mall next to the CMU football stadium. Since then, he said he's been continuing to serve others and attempt to create a space for people to gather and find a sense of community.
One of the ways his business is doing this is through their new concept, "Ignite After Hours," where the store is open from 8 p.m to 1 a.m on Tuesdays and Saturdays, because he wants to create a space for college students to find community even when it's late.
"Over the course of many years, partnerships and opportunities I've been able to persevere forward," Croad said. "And I hope that regardless of where you all are at in your own personal lives ... that you can pursue whatever you want to do and continue moving forward."
Boman discusses how to write legislation, House committees
At the House of Representatives meeting, House Speaker Josh Boman went over how representatives can submit legislation to cabinet members.
He said students should not worry about proper formatting or fonts, and instead said the should focus on the "meat" of the legislation, or major points, as he would edit them into the proper format later.
Boman said the key aspects needed for proposed legislation is:
- The purpose in one sentence
- The author's name, role and sponsors for the legislation
- The background information on the issue
- The "Whereas's," where authors start presenting their argument, finding evidence and citing sources
- The "Therefore's/Be it resolved's," or what authors want done about the issue.
"You're not making an argument yet, just providing unbiased facts," Boman said.
Boman said after submitting the legislation, he and Zimmerman would work with the author to edit the legislation and prepare it for introduction to the chambers.
Biller also said that while legislation can be submitted at any time, he recommends it be submitted sooner than later so that it can make it through the full legislative process before the spring semester ends.
"We only have so many meetings a semester," he said. "The sooner they're submitted, the better, because there's time for the piece to go through the process before elections take over."
In other events:
- Hadlee Rinn, president of the Program Board, talked about the Program Board and positions open on the e-board students can apply to. The positions are open to all students on campus, and she said those who want to learn more can attend their next meeting Feb. 7 at 8 p.m in the University Center third floor Lakeshore Room. Students can apply on the Program Board's Engage Central page.
- SGA Elections Director McKenzie Petit said she was looking for committee members to help with the upcoming SGA elections process. She said the committee would consist of no more than 10 members. A sign-up QR code was displayed at the meeting, and an email will be sent out to SGA members as well.
- The Diversity Committee has created five sub-committees for students to join and come up with ideas for future events. These committees are Black History Month, Arab American History Month, Asian Pacific American History Month, Demonstration and the Cookbook Committee.
- The bylaws were approved in a verbal vote, with a majority 'yes' and one 'no'. The remainder of the constitution and bylaws were passed in the Senate and House meetings, with the Senate voting unanimously to pass it and the House voting 57-1-1. Biller said that while the process may not have been fun to engage in, it's rewarding now that it's over.
- Various other events were discussed during public comment, such as Central Votes helping with the early voting polls being set up in Powers 136 from Feb. 17 to Feb. 25, the Valor and Resilience event coming up on Feb. 12 for Black History Month and the Fish 'n' Chips Acapella group is open for Valentine's Day gigs.
