On Thursday, Oct. 5, Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) held their weekly Legislative Body (LB) meeting. MCSG approved new organizations and funding asks, voted on the Omnibus Bill and Election Code and discussed their upcoming “Legislaytion” week.
The meeting started out by approving three new orgs: Pro-Choice@MAC, Democracy Matters and Voices of Mental Health. The meeting then turned to granting financial requests made to the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) and brought to the LB. Mac First Aid requested a budget of $6971.65 to travel to Washington, D.C. for a conference. After a few questions about logistics of the trip, the LB approved the request. The Community Chest requested $2391.11 to fund meals at MacGPT. MacGPT is hosted by the Economics, Political Science and Environmental Studies departments and is an all-day event in the Kagin Commons on Nov. 4.
“It’s where students spend the day coming up with environmental challenges and brainstorming real world policy solutions,” Community and Engagement Committee (CEC) Chair Mathilda Barr ’25 said. “It’s open to anyone on campus and they will have the opportunity to network with real folks working in environmental policy.”
The funding passed after questions were addressed.
Next, there was a visit from The Mac Weekly regarding their participation in MCSG meetings. News Editor Emma Salomon explained how The Mac Weekly covers MCSG meetings and plans to continue in the current year. Salomon explained The Mac Weekly’s intention behind coming to each meeting, as well as some of the logistical aspects of sitting in and writing on LB meetings.
“We’re here as your voice to the world outside of social media,” Salomon explained. “We’re going to be reporting [on] voting, committee updates and basically anything that’s on the agenda.”
Next, each committee gave an update on their work that week. Mikayla Giehler ’24, chair of the The Student Organizations Committee (SOC), explained they chartered three new orgs and were hoping to charter another by the next meeting, as explained by FAC chair Eliora Hansonbrook ’25, the FAC had two meetings in which they approved several funding requests by different orgs. The CEC, explained by Barr, discussed more about the upcoming “Legislaytion” week. The Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) finished with their chair, Tristain Niedzielski ’25, reporting out that a textbook contract with Barnes & Noble had been signed and that AAC had reached out to Vice President of Administration and Finance Patricia Langer for more details about the contract and had not heard a response. In 2021, Macalester’s Senior Leadership Team rejected a similar automatic textbook billing contract with Barnes & Noble. Next, the LB voted on the Omnibus Bill and the Election Code. The bill was voted out in sections; pages one through ten were the first to be discussed. After a question regarding how long LB meetings should be, the first ten pages were passed and each section afterwards followed suit, the entire bill was passed.
The LB then split into their respective committees to go over more logistics and ideas about the upcoming “Legislaytion” week. The Cabinet spoke more about what each liaison was planning, and the SOC went over how they could explain their role on campus at their event.
The meeting finished with a few updates about “Legislaytion” week and the MCSG meeting for next week.
