The MCSG meeting on November 8 was started early and conducted swiftly so that the attendees could watch the election results.
First, the executives gave an update from their meeting. The biggest discussion point was the faculty meeting from the previous Tuesday. Among the highlights are that despite some rumors, Marlon James is staying at Macalester, and that voting rights for non-tenure track faculty are on the table for further debate. The current system makes it so that essentially all full-time faculty (tenure, tenure-track and full-time non-tenure track) have voting rights, but the new proposition would extend voting rights to part-time faculty with at least four years at Macalester.

The Student Services and Relations Committee (SSRC) gave an update on its student survey. The committee is currently in the process of soliciting comments from MCSG executives on the wording of the questions. The goal of the survey is to figure out how well SSRC is addressing student needs. This year the Strategic Plan is included in the survey in place of last year’s section on sustainability.

Financial Affairs Committee (FAC) Chair Sydney Keilor ’17 presented a ballot to change the funding structure of the Mac Weekly and WMCN so that they would be allotted money biennially, a structure similar to the funding for Program Board (PB) and Lectures Coordination Board (LCB), meaning that every two years both orgs would receive a set budget based on past spending patterns. The funds would then be revisited by MCSG after those two years, when the next sum of money would be determined. Based on past funding requests, the sum would likely not fluctuate much allocation to allocation. The voting patterns of MCSG regarding allocations for these two orgs over the last three years have shown consistency in funding patterns, thus it would be potentially easier to cut out the budgeting process. MCSG has already been talking about restructuring funding to recognize that not all orgs operate the same way. The hope is that this move would open a discussion about future changes. There was little debate about the proposed bill; it seemed to face little resistance from MCSG members. It will be voted on at the next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 15.

The Student Organizations Committee (SOC) presented two orgs for a charter vote and one org for the first week of discussion. Macalester Dance Marathon was up for a vote and after a little discussion about the nature of the club and its end goal, the charter was granted with 24 votes in favor. Next, Fossil Free Mac was back for its charter vote. It passed with 25 votes in favor. Ping-Pong at Mac was presented to the LB for the first time. There was much debate though as to whether or not this club fits the requirements for an org. The discussion was cut short and questions were directed to the org leaders. The discussion will resume next week for its charter vote.

The Educational Policy and Governance Committee (EPAG) student representative gave an update to the LB. EPAG is a committee focused on college academics and is made up of faculty representing all departments, staff such as the provost and head of the library, and two students. They conduct year-long projects and more short-term ones. Currently, a big project of theirs is the curricular development plan.