On Tuesday, Nov. 8, Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) held their weekly meeting in which they continued their discussion surrounding winter housing. The Legislative Body (LB) also talked about holding a conversation with senior staff on the administration’s response to ongoing concerns raised by international students and began planning for upcoming MCSG-sponsored events.  

Revisiting their discussion from previous weeks’ meetings on winter housing, the LB talked through proposed options for winter housing, including renting out hotel rooms or leaving a residence hall open for students to stay in. 

LB members also considered the possibility of willing domestic students renting out their living spaces to students in need of winter housing between the end of the semester and the beginning of J-term. They clarified that students should not be expected to come up with the money to pay rent on their own but rather that the college offer emergency funds to students looking for housing.

“I think that there needs to be [some measure] that’s not just students figuring it out for students,” junior representative Emma Kopplin ’24 said.

The LB did not reach a conclusion in their conversation. 

Other representatives talked about what future MCSG-sponsored events might look like.

After, the LB discussed meeting with senior leadership to address issues presented by international students, including those voiced at the sit-in last Nov. MCSG President Bobbie Pennington ’24 explained that their discussion would be an opportunity for students to hold the administration accountable for following through on listening to students’ concerns. He asked the LB for their input on how to engage with senior leadership and who should be included in the conversation.

“We want their feedback on what they’re working on [and] it’s more to say, ‘whatever you’ve been working on, we’re still having these barriers at your institution, and we think they need to be taken away,’”  Pennington said. “There’s a list of concrete asks as well.”

Following, the LB divided into four groups based on class year where they shared ideas for Class Night events.

Members also briefly talked about the ‘Kagin’ — similar to a school dance and held in Kagin Ballroom — that will be held later in the semester.

The Student Services and Relations Committee (SSRC) then announced that naloxone supplies, used to rapidly reverse an opioid overdose, will soon be distributed among residence halls. The group is also working to increase access to supplies among other on-campus housing, including the Language Houses.

Later, Community Outreach Coordinator Elsa Vieregg ’25 shared that interested representatives would begin doing social media takeovers on the MCSG Instagram account.

To end the meeting, Pennington reminded LB members of the shared governance session that was held on Thursday, Nov. 10, which aimed to outline the roles and responsibilities of the Board of Trustees, senior leadership and MCSG. Explaining that this event would provide students with the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of how the college operates, he encouraged representatives to spread the word.

Pennington also shared that President Suzanne Rivera and Dean of Students Kathryn Kay Coquemont would be joining the LB for their Nov. 29 meeting.

Emma Salomon contributed to the reporting for this story.

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