The Under Graduate Student Government began setting up for the April elections last week with only a few sign ups. The USG Elections Chair, Paul Valencia, has decided to move the closing of the nominations by a week. Nominations for the upcoming year’s E-board members will close next week Wednesday, March 24, at 5:00 p.m.
“Because of the few sign-ups, I think it would be best to move the entire elections schedule by week,” says Paul Valencia. “This should give us time to receive more applicants and more time to organize.”
Student voting will begin on April 1 at 9:00 a.m. and will close on April 5 at 11:59 p.m. On April 7, the election results will be presented during the USG meeting that day which will be held at 7:00 p.m.
Positions are divided up into two different branches; executive and legislative. Open positions in the executive administration for next year include president, vice president, secretary, and treasury. In the legislative organization, students may run as an executive officer or as a representative. Four of the nominees will be chosen by electors for the position of executive officer and six students from each class as representatives; senior, junior, sophomore, and freshman.
Requirements and roles for each position will vary. The president presides over all USG meetings and serves as the lead speaker of all meetings. The vice president assists the president in carrying out assignments and other responsibilities. These assignments include the management of committees and the taking up of the president’s roles should they be absent. The treasurer manages and organizes the budget for the organization. They also give suggestions about spending procedures during meetings. The secretary records minutes, schedules and informs members of meetings, and sends out important notices.
Representatives and officers have the responsibility of attending the general meetings which are held every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. They must also sit on at least two committees as put out by the committee chairs. Lastly, members must attend two office hours per week for the organization.
Candidates must hold a minimum 2.00 cumulative grade point average in order to be considered for nomination. A typed biography will also be required of each candidate by Mar. 25 at 5:00 p.m. There will be four brief questions that each candidate will be required to answer within their bio that will display their interests and goals within USG. Candidates are required to attend a meeting where they will submit their papers to the current USG officers.The meeting will highlight the rules and guidelines for the elections.
Officers will speak about campaigning and ballot requirements amongst other things. Pictures of all canidates will be taken at the gathering.

The Undergraduate Student Government covered a lengthy agenda during its meeting Wednesday night. Topics discussed included USG bylaws, budget hearings for student organizations, and USG liaisons with student organizations on campus.
Reviewed bylaws for last week included revising the GPA requirement for undergraduate students involved with government. These effects will come into practice next week. A proposed bylaw would require executive board members to be paid a total amount of $500 per semester and will be voted on next week.
Also discussed were compensations for various student organizations. These included reimbursements of $21.56 for the Pistol Club as well as reimbursements for the Women’s Soccer Club, Ski Patrol, and the Roller Hockey Club among other organizations.
Organizations that have attended last week’s meeting included members of the Habitat for Humanity Chapter who were given allocations of $820 from the opportunities fund for their annual Collegiate Challenge. Also in attendance were members from the Department of Visual and Performing Arts who discussed details about the annual Keweenawesome Fest. They represented the band “Electric Six” and spoke in advocacy for their attendance at the festival.
“The event will take place on the 10th of April and will be located in the McCardle Theater,” said one of the representatives. “Normally about 100 people come to these events and we are predicting that about 200 people will be present this time.”
The representatives requested $5000 from the opportunities fund for the event at the Keweenawesome Fest. USG member, Paul Mattson, expressed his thoughts on the proposal. “It gives an opportunity for students to have fun,” he said. “I think it is a good place to invest in.”
The weekly committee reports included hearings from the service, judiciary, elections, public relations, and civil rights committees. The public relations and the elections committee focused much of their attention on the USG elections that will be held next Monday. A topic that brought up interest was the plan for new members in the fall. “There could be a fear of responsibility, masked by a put-on sense of humility and volunteerism,” commented Senior Representative Kyle Thornton.
USG liaison of this week dealt with members from various organizations. The Students for Environmental Sustainability (SFES) discussed their plans for the upcoming Earth Week. They discussed possible movies and speakers as well as a hands-on “herb planting” event that will be used to represent their organization. Others included hearings on International Night, hosted by the International Club, and African Night, brought out by the Parent’s Fund.
The MUB Board also attended to discuss the permission for student organizations to obtain microwaves in their offices and discussed the need for more microwaves in the MUB.
Other topics included granting funds for student organizations who wish to build storage shelters for places such as snowmobiles. One group in particular was the Sledheads; an organization dedicated to those who are interested in snowmobiling. These funds would be used to provide for heat, rent, and electricity among other things.
This week’s main focus was to discuss budgets for student organizations. One member from each student organization was required to attend this meeting in order to receive funding from the Student Activities Fund (SAF). The meeting was held in the MUB Ballroom A at 7:00 p.m. this past Wednesday.

On Nov. 18, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) met for their weekly meeting in the Memorial Union Building (MUB) to discuss campus-wide policies and procedures.  One of the topics under discussion was the proposed changes to the by-laws of the undergraduate constitution from the Constitution Review Committee.
Several of the proposed articles fell into place easily, either updating the by-laws for the new electronic voting systems or catching up on small changes such as GPA requirements for USG representatives. However, the changes to Article XV Section 15.01 brought some life to the stoic room.  The article proposes to offer members of the USG E-board a stipend—drawn straight out of students’ fees.
“Some other universities give their student body president free tuition,” said Marc Starnes, Head of the Constitution Review Committee responsible for submitting the changes, in response to critics of the proposal. And it’s true; colleges such as University of Nebraska, University of Colorado, and Texas Tech all fund their student government officials with stipends up to thousands of dollars.  $12,000 is funded for the Texas Tech presidents’ salary, and it is paid entirely out of student fees.  Luckily for those students paying the stipends, Texas Tech also is one of the Big 12 Schools celebrating a year of record enrollment—almost 30,000 students signed up for classes in fall 2009 (KOHM-FM).  Compare that to the Michigan Tech enrollment figures, also a record year at 7,132 students, and there’s a big difference (Tech Today).
“…Unnecessary”, responds Eric Thomas, a fourth-year STC major. “Students should be pursuing undergraduate student government for the experience and their passion to be able to participate. That money should go to the student organizations.”
Student reactions at the USG meeting were mostly unobservable during the proceedings. USG president, Cara Hanson, briefly chastised the council upon closing the meeting, saying, “Remember you’re here to represent students on-campus and their interests.”
The Undergraduate Student Government Constitution can only be altered by a favorable majority in a vote encompassing two-thirds or more of the undergraduate student population. However, the by-laws can be changed exclusively by the USG.  The policy of the USG required the discussion of the by-law proposals to be tabled until the next meeting which will be held on Thursday, Dec. 4 in Ballroom A in the MUB. It is open to all students, who are welcome to voice their opinions on USG proceedings, including these new by-laws, during the required USG open discussion time period.  If you would like more information on the proceedings or USG policies, contact a student representative or send an email to usg@mtu.edu.
The USG website, www.usg.mtu.edu, is currently unavailable.

Money Matters:
Reimbursements:
SAAM- $500 for Men’s Week Speaker.
AIsES- $3,125 for Pow-Wow Expenses.
Audio Engineering Society- $984 for Term lab and dB Drag.
Global City- $350 for Film Board costs.
IVCF- $1117.05 for cooler and conference.
AMA- $800 for Conferences.
Four wheelers- $742.81 for equipment.
BSA- $1550 for MLK and BHM.
TV Production Club- $1000 for camera.

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Money matters:

Men’s Soccer Club-Reserve Fund for goal accessories $1,151.96.

SAE Aero-Opportunities Fund $750 for Conference Costs

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2009-2010 Executive Board
Cara Hanson- President
Amanda Van Slooten- Vice President
Kyle Done- Treasurer
Sarah Anderton-Secretary

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As Undergraduate Student Government executive board elections wrap up, details of a controversy within the organization have emerged. Processes to impeach the USG Treasurer have recently been discussed according to sources within USG who wish to remain anonymous, as they are still active within the organization. However, after a review of the allegations and lengthy discussions within USG, the issue has been resolved and no further action will be pursued, according to Amanda Van Slooten, USG President.

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In matters to the students, representative nominations for the 2009-10 school year are now open. The Student Issues Committee is researching student ID cards and the replacement fee that is attached to them. Some USG representatives recently attended the Student Association of Michigan meeting in Dearborn. An assortment of good ideas from other universities surfaced, and USG is hoping to iron out the details involved with implementing them here at MTU.

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Executive Board elections for the Undergraduate Student Government may have been flawed, this according to an internal e-mail leaked by an anonymous source and later verified by Paul Valencia, USG Elections Committee Chair.

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USG Minutes 01/14/2009

Money Matters
The CRT budget revision was accepted to include Internet charges, and several pre-approved reimbursements to various student organizations were also accepted.

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