This week’s recent SGA updates

MAGGIE ELIAS ’17

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

During the last two meetings, held on Sunday, Oct. 18 and Sunday, Oct. 25, SGA has made some great strides and progress with their goals this semester. First and foremost, SGA President Max Le Merle ’16 and SGA Vice-President Josh Frank ’16 contacted Dean Mitzel about SGA members receiving credit for their work. Members now have the opportunity to receive either a pass/fail or letter grade .5 credit through an internship within the Career Development Center.

Four additional clubs were approved by SGA. They are the Knitting Club, History Club, Swing and Blues Club, and Her Campus Trinity.

Academic Affairs Committee Chair, Chris Bulfinch ’18, reported that his committee is organizing a student-faculty discussion forum about the 2016 election. In addition, they are working on ideas on how to honor student achievement. The committee is discussing having honors within majors announced at Commencement and other ways to reward high GPAs.

Finance Committee Chair, Shannon Burke ’16, reported that the Budget Committee has allocated about one-third of their funds so far this semester.

Student Life Chair, Kate Dietrich-Manion ’18, reported that her committee had its second round of training for Campaign for Community over Trinity Days. Within Campaign for Community, there are five student working-groups addressing different issues on campus. There will be a presentation on Nov. 7 from 2:00-5:00 p.m. for the student groups to share their ideas with the community.

Multicultural Affairs Committee Chair, Zaniyyah AshBey ’16, reported that her committee is drafting a guidebook about what the Multicultural Affairs Committee is and does, which will include information for organizations on how to book rooms, create performance contracts, and other similar things.

Inter-Organizational Chair, Kelly Vaughan ’17, spoke about her committee’s initiative to work with Brendan Norton, a fellow at the Career Development Center to host a dinner for club presidents. Vaughan also outlined her committee’s goals to reach out to more clubs and organizations and assist with marketing and inter-club collaboration for campus events.

Communications Committee Chair, Lauren Glasse ’18, discussed her committee’s plan to improve “Trinity Today,” as well as dealing with other projects and initiatives geared towards improving communication between the administration and the students and among students themselves.

Le Merle also announced that SGA is starting a Food Committee, which Vaughan and Glasse are going to co-chair. The committee has contacted Senior Director of Dining Services, Toby Chenette, to consider new dining options. The committee has also been talking to students about opinions concerning food and looking at dining programs of other colleges similar to Trinity.

The second half of the meeting after the Executive Board’s reports consisted of committees breaking off to discuss their accomplishments thus far and consider strategies for future action.

This  meeting was an important  indicator of the SGA’s direction as far as policy is concerned. As compared to years past , the SGA has a much more defined agenda and set of goals. The committees are being held to much more strenuous standards as far as attedance and initiative are concerned. The leadership has been trying to stress communication between committess and fostering a close relationship with the faculty and adminstration.