By Malaika Rosenfeld

This week’s MCSG meeting was marked with a table of cupcakes and clementines in commemoration of the last Legislative Body (LB) meeting of the school year. In addition to the usual LB members, many of the newly elected LB members for the the 2017-2018 fall semester were also in attendance.

Their introduction to MCSG’s meetings featured yearly updates from each committee: the Academic Affairs Committee (AAC), the Student Services Resources Committee (SSRC), the Financial Affairs Committee (FAC), the Student Organizations Committee (SOC) and Program Board (PB).

The main business of the night was voting on AAC Chair Remy Eisendrath’s ’17 newly proposed bill, Bill 0022.R, which moves to give club sports teams access to the Travel Grant Fund.

Throughout the process Eisendrath has talked to and gained the support of Macalester’s Athletic Director Kim Chandler, as well as other stakeholders in the administration. The bill passed without significant pushback.

After weeks of appeals, the FAC’s 2017-2018 student organization budget was also passed. The LB passed the $157,972.43 budget to cover all organizations’ events, capital and flex needs. The total does not include the money approved during the appeals process, which will account for between $4,000-$5,000 more in additional funding.

After the process, outgoing FAC Chair Sydney Keiler ’17 reminded the LB that if any members would like to make a change in terms of where money is allocated, they can — the FAC doesn’t have to be the chief actor in facilitating those changes.

The night ended with a conversation about how MCSG members can model the change they want to see in the world and how they can be effective student representatives.