This week’s MCSG meeting was only an hour long, and was the first this year at which the entire legislative body (LB) was assembled. Two new orgs at Macalester were chartered—Rising Minds at Macalester and Ballroom Dance at Macalester—before each committee provided a weekly update and plans for the MCSG Review were reiterated.

Nita Chai ’16 and Jeffrey Lyman ’16 were welcomed as the two new senior class representatives. The election results went out last Thursday morning to the campus community, after a unique election period in which there were no candidates officially running on the ballot—all were write-in candidates. Only 61 seniors voted, with 21 write-in votes going to Lyman and and 12 to Chai.

Suveer Daswani ‘18, the SOC chair, motioned to charter Rising Minds at Macalester and Ballroom Dance at Macalester. By seeking a charter, Rising Minds at Macalester hoped to provide a platform on- and off-campus for students to debate and discuss Guatemalan community development surrounding their annual J-term trip to San Juan La Laguna in Guatemala. Ballroom Dance at Mac, after years of being defunct due to lack of affordable instructors, announced that they had procured an instructor in the Twin Cities willing to work with them, and were resurging in popularity with over 30 members. Both motions were seconded, and the orgs were chartered.

Afterwards, representatives of each committee detailed the events of the previous week and their goals moving forward. Gordy Moore ’17, MCSG’s sustainability officer, had spoken with the Academic Affairs Committee (AAC), and discussed plans to improve “dirty training” in residential halls, as well as efforts to make Macalester a more bee-friendly campus. The Financial Affairs Committee (FAC) approved MacFEAST for a total of $400. Harrisonford Fauni of the Student Services and Relations Committee (SSRC) noted progress on mental health policy initiatives, saying that the SSRC has been in dialogue with Voices on Mental Health and will be having a forum on November 10th for a community discussion on mental health. Caroline Duncombe ’18 then announced that the AAC is in the process of developing resources for students who speak English as a second language.

At the end of the meeting, the LB went over timing and plans for the MCSG Review, which will be held starting on Monday of next week, and will require the legislative body and individual committees to present their work to campus committee representatives, as well as evaluators from outside the College.