The Colorado Mesa University Associated Student Government (ASG) passed seven bills in their last meeting of the fall semester on Dec. 6. The bills combined allocated $21,368 from the student-controlled reserve fund, the transportation budget and the ASG operating budget, by far the greatest amount allocated in one meeting.
Four of the seven bills allocated money to clubs to travel to their respective conferences, two of the seven provided bylaw changes and the final bill allocated funds to cover the cost of the Student Life holiday party, an event Director of External Affairs Chrystina Meador hopes will bring organizations and their senators closer together.
While the Fee Allocation Committee made some minor cuts to bills on Monday, most of the bills retained close to the full amount that clubs requested of ASG, according to FAC Chair Jacob Wellborn.
The first of the club bills allocated $4000 from RNCF to send the eight members of the CMU cycling team to their national championship in 2018. While a few senators questioned the contributions the club made to the trip themselves, the majority of senators were eager to support the team, which has won over 30 national championship medals. Only the second bill to draw from the transportation budget this year, it passed unanimously.
The second of the club bills allocated $2,792 from RNCF to send 19 students from the American Choral Directors Association to a conference in early March. The club against for only a little over half the total cost of the trip, and after no comments or questions, the bill passed unanimously.
The third of the club bills allocated $1,576 from SCRF to send 14 students from the Radiologic Technology Club to a conference in late January. This club requested less than half of the total cost from ASG, citing that they would pay their own registration fees, extra gas money and food costs. The conference is an opportunity offered every year to second-year students and above. After no discussion, the bill passed unanimously.
The fourth and final club bill allocated the largest sum of money during that night’s meeting, $11,800 from the RNCF to send 20 students from Mesa Emerging Designers to the Offset International Design Conference in Dublin, Ireland. Though the club asked for a large sum of money, the requested amount would only cover the airfare for the students. Club fundraisers, such as the money made at Artober Fest, paid some of the housing and parking costs. The 2018 trip would be the first year students will not have to foot the entire cost of the trip themselves.
Some senators did question how important the conference was since the amount requested was by far the greatest amount all semester. However, after presenters explained the connections they make at the conference could allow them to find jobs or bring back professional designers to speak at CMU in the future. After a recommendation from Senators Richard Nguyen and Kevin Kahuena, the bill passed unanimously.
The fifth bill of the night concerned food for the Student Life holiday party, provided by Sodexo. Though Meador explained she did pursue other options, she said that Sodexo provided the cheapest and most convenient option for the party. After a few logistical questions, the bill passed unanimously.
The final two bills concerned bylaw changes to ASG and FAC. The first of these was a change to the FAC bylaws sponsored by Senator Jeff Vela, also a FAC committee member. The proposed change affects the conference committee process. Under Vela’s new provision, if a bill fails at FAC, a senator on the committee can sponsor the bill and bring it to the Senate floor, where if it passes there, goes to conference committee. After Vela explained his bill, it passed unanimously.
The last bill of the night, an ASG bylaw change sponsored by Senators Cerise, Rupple and Shearrow, would clearly define the difference between a Senate resolution and joint resolution. The resolution also gives the president the power to veto a joint resolution, but not a Senate resolution, as these only concern the legislative body. After a small friendly amendment that clarified the definition of each resolution, the resolution passed unanimously.
ASG also saw their third justice position filled by Chris Ramirez. Ramirez is a baseball player and transfer student. After a recommendation from Vela, they legislative body moved to a vote and unanimously approved his appointment.
