The University of North Florida’s Student Government committees met on Friday to appoint a new senator, approve multiple travel requests and discuss future events for students.
On Oct. 17, the Rules and Oversight Committee met to appoint a student to the Senate. The Budget and Allocations Committee heard travel requests from a student and two clubs. The University and Student Affairs Committee discussed Finals Frenzy and the next Osprey Voice topic.
Rules and Oversight Committee meeting
In the R&O meeting, the body unanimously voted to approve Ethan Byrne-Callan for senator.
He received a letter of recommendation from Student Government President Amelia Dyal, who read the letter aloud during his appointment.
“I am confident that he will be a great asset to the Senate,” Dyal said in her letter.
While Callan is still subject to confirmation by the Senate, Callan would be the sixth appointed senator this semester.
Budget and Allocations Committee meeting
In the B&A meeting, the committee heard travel requests from SG’s Chief of Staff Kayla Charde, the UNF Percussion Club and Osprey Competitive Programmers.
Charde requested $355 to pay for flight and transportation fees to attend the American Student Government Conference in Chicago, IL. She will be attending with Deputy Chief of Staff Avery Colbert, who petitioned the committee in a previous meeting. The committee unanimously approved Charde’s request.
The B&A Committee also heard from the UNF Percussion Club, represented by their club treasurer, James Main, who requested $2,000.
In his presentation, Main said the money would fund travel and lodging expenses for 15 of their club members to attend “the largest convention in the world for percussion”, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) that will be taking place in Indianapolis, IN. The committee unanimously approved the Percussion Club’s request.
Representatives of the Osprey Competitive Programmers requested $1,101.80 for their club members to attend the International Collegiate Programming Contest in Tallahassee, FL. The committee unanimously approved the club’s request.
The travel request budget now sits at $35,048.94.
SG Scholarship Funding
During the B&A meeting, Treasurer Katherine Toro Villanueva reported on the scholarship committee meeting conducted this past Wednesday.
During the fall semester of each academic year, SG awards scholarships from its own allocation and delegates scholarship funds to other departments for disbursement.
According to Villanueva, SG delegated $63,000 in scholarship funds to various scholarships, including an International Student scholarship, a Student Accessibility Center scholarship, and a Student Affairs scholarship.
University and Student Affairs Committee meeting
Committee Chair Shipton MacDonald conducted his first USA committee meeting on Friday, discussing October’s Osprey Voice topic and planning events for this year’s “Finals Frenzy”.
Osprey Voice is a monthly survey created by the USA committee in order to hear ideas and opinions from UNF students.
MacDonald said he was interested in making this month’s Osprey Voice “super simple, open-ended” to prioritize student concerns for the rest of the academic year.
In the committee discussion, the body established that dining, parking, safety, campus engagement, athletics and academics would be contenders for the Osprey Voice survey. The committee then planned to approach the topics that had the highest student concern but did not finalize decisions on a topic.
The USA committee also discussed “Finals Frenzy”, a week-long SG event from Dec. 8 to Dec. 12. While there were no plans finalized, committee members discussed hot chocolate carts, goodie bags and holiday festivities for students to enjoy.
The USA plans to hold an emergency meeting this week to finalize the survey and discuss details about “Finals Frenzy”, according to MacDonald.
Up Next
The SG Senate will meet Friday, Oct. 24, at noon in the Senate Chambers (Bldg. 58E, Room 3200).
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