The Legislative Body (LB) met for the last time this semester over Zoom on Tuesday, wrapping up the year with reflections and plans for next fall. 

MCSG President Blair Cha ’20 opened the meeting by announcing that the Executive Board had decided to defer the selection of student representatives to campus committees to the fall instead of holding another virtual meeting to review the applications this spring. 

Financial Affairs Committee (FAC) member Jason Kohn ’20 voiced concern that some committees starting work over the summer, like the Election Procedures Commission, might benefit from having the student appointments done sooner rather than later.

“I think there are a couple [of committees]… that needs to start work at the very beginning of the school year, and setting that back was a problem this year,” Kohn said. “I think… it would be ideal to avoid that.”

Vice President Fatiya Kedir ’21 pushed for moving selection to the fall, noting that there might be positions left to fill if the committees are short on applications, which close on May 1. 

“It will also give us an opportunity to fill the roles that weren’t fulfilled,” Kedir said. “We’re not sure exactly how many roles will be fulfilled this year, but we’re definitely thinking that there might be spots that are still empty.”

Kohn suggested voting as a full LB instead of leaving the decision up to the executive board. The LB held a vote and decided to wait until the fall, with 12 in favor and seven opposed. 

The fall will also see a special election for the position of Vice President. Cha announced that Diversity and Inclusion Officer Robert Green ’23, who was the incoming Vice President, is leaving Macalester at the end of this year. 

The LB’s last order of business was to approve a new logo designed by sophomore class representative Alexandra O’Farrell ’22. The new logo, which will be used for MCSG’s Instagram page and added to MCSG materials and communications, is the first step in a rebranding project that members hope will bring more attention and engagement with MCSG. 

“Being on MCSG since first year, we’ve definitely had this conversation [about rebranding] multiple times,” Kedir said. “Regarding the MCSG Instagram, no one’s been really interested in doing submissions, et cetera.” 

“We really want to get this started through the summer, in particular through the Instagram page,” MCSG Chief of Staff Diana Paz ’21 added. 

After some LB members expressed concerns over the readability of the logo and whether or not the college’s communications office would approve of the design, Speaker of the LB Em Hayward ’21 suggested voting to approve the draft with the caveat that minor changes could be made. The logo passed with this caveat, with 17 voting in favor and three abstaining.

To close out the meeting and the year, LB members reflected on their high points of the year.

“We accomplished a lot of very unexpected things this year,” Hayward said. “We voted on that relief bill. We also had an incredible number of special elections and appointments… we had some rough moments [but] we accomplished getting back, pulling ourselves together, figuring that out.”

In Cha’s closing statement, she emphasized the progress she’s seen in MCSG over the years and encouraged the LB to keep working on the issues she hoped to center — diversity and mental health. 

“Moving forward I’d like you to think about why having diversity in this space is important and…  taking care of ourselves first,” Cha said. “I’m proud of us for continuing to have those conversations. It’s really hard to exactly know how to change, but it matters that we’re trying.”

She closed out with a nod to Kedir, the incoming president.

“Like me, Fatiya has a long list of accomplishments and will be an amazing president,” Cha said. “I hope you can take this year’s experiences, both good and bad, and create the MCSG that you want to see.”