On Tuesday, Jan. 31, Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) voted to approve funding and to delay the spring elections at their weekly Legislative Body (LB) meeting. The members also began brainstorming working groups for the spring semester. 

Outing Club representative Lukas Lock-Scamp ’25 gave an overview of the club’s planned Red Cross Wilderness First Aid training course, for which they were seeking $6,570 of funding from MCSG.

“Because the training is required for students that want to lead outings, it’s integral to our club’s future activities,” Lock-Scamp said. 

The LB approved the funding request. 

Looking ahead, the LB postponed the initiation of the spring election process at the recommendation of MCSG President Bobbie Pennington ’24. Pennington said he felt it was too early in the semester to begin thinking about spring elections, a sentiment echoed by other members. In response, the LB voted unanimously to delay the election. 

The LB also spent a portion of the meeting thinking of topics for working groups to address during the spring semester. Working groups are issue-based and hold conversations during weekly LB meetings to consider potential actions surrounding their designated topics.

In his proposal to continue this practice, Pennington noted the working groups’ success in the fall semester, mentioning the discussions that took place to resolve issues surrounding winter housing. The working groups will be further discussed during MCSG’s retreat this Saturday. 

Senior class representative Emmanuel Keppel ’23 proposed that one group concentrate on MCSG’s marketing efforts to address student engagement. 

“We need to be tackling our engagement issue,” Keppel said. “A lot of students don’t know what we actually do in MCSG.”

Keppel suggested a “bottom up” approach of engaging first-years as they enter Macalester to boost participation in student government. 

Sophomore class representative Cooper Glick ’25 also proposed a working group to focus on concerns surrounding relations and interactions between the student body and Macalester Public Safety.

Final decisions around working group issues will be decided at the retreat. 

Afterwards, representatives submitted items for an upcoming newsletter from MCSG recapping what projects and issues they worked on in the fall semester. Committees will send out their updates in an email in the coming weeks. 

The Student Services and Relations Committee (SSRC) then gave updates on their work with Leonard Center staff on inclusion in facilities and programming. 

“We are thinking about working with some of the student athlete identity collectives like Pride Athletes at Mac and BIPOC Athletes,” Vice President and SSRC Chair Mathilda Barr ’25 said. 

Sustainability Officer Shaherazade Khan ’23 also updated the LB on her meeting with Macalester’s new director of sustainability, Megan Butler, and plans to revive MCSG’s sustainability committee. 

[email protected]