Before fall break, Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) had a lot of business to discuss, including important updates from their president and cabinet, Macalester’s sesquicentennial birthday and the chartering of three new student organizations.
The meeting started with committee updates. Academic Affairs Committee chair Tristan Niedzielski ’25 discussed the deal signed with Barnes & Noble College for a new textbook billing contract.
MCSG President Mariah Loeffler-Kemp ’24 then shared updates on the meetings with faculty and staff.
She reported on her time at the campus-wide faculty meeting, where some members expressed substantial concerns about the new requirement for all staff and faculty to complete background checks. In 2016, the college started making all new hires do these checks, but this year they announced in an email to all staff and faculty that their insurance is requiring all employees to complete one every five years.
Loeffler-Kemp shared that non-tenured faculty and staff have expressed concerns about lacking job security and feeling obligated to complete a background check. According to Loeffler-Kemp, 70% of the faculty have completed them, but 30% have not, due to political reasons and the potential harm they can do.
“This doesn’t necessarily affect students, but it is important to be standing with the other constituents at our school, especially as we love our faculty and our staff,” Loeffler-Kemp said. “We want to make sure we’re supporting them through these issues.”
Loeffler-Kemp also discussed Rachel Weeks’, chair of the Staff Advisory Council, ongoing complaints expressed at the Board of Trustees meeting, as well as the ongoing conversations with President Rivera and Vice President for Student Affairs Kathryn Kay Coquemont about when updated plans for the Cultural House replacement will be announced. Loeffler-Kemp said that so far they have not made plans to announce it to the student body.
“I’ve been pushing to try to get answers at all of these meetings that I’m a part of, but it’s kind of just out of our hands at this point.” Loeffler-Kemp reiterated to the Legislative Body (LB).
The LB then turned to cabinet updates from the issue-based liaisons. Health and Wellness Liaison Emma Rohrs ’26 had a PSA about the Laurie Hamre Center for Health & Wellness’ new online appointments.Rohrs asked that those having issues with scheduling an appointment make a report on the anonymous survey on the Hamre center website.
Infrastructure & Sustainability Liaison Minori Kishi ’25 reported on work to get Macalester on the National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat program, as well as creating a hardware tool library for students to check out.
International Student Liaison Yosephine Manihuruk ’26 and Residential Life & Dining Liaison Philomena Shuffleton-Sobe ’26 reported on working with International Student Programs, Coquemont and Residential Life to fix the problem of international students being roomed disproportionally together.
Shuffleton-Sobe also discussed working on increasing Resident Assistant pay with the general goal of including board rather than just room and a bonus.
Rola Cao ’24, Belonging and Accessibility Liaison, reported on how the LSC is looking for better ways to recognize the needs of transgender students and the name change of the Disability Services to the Center for Disability Resources. Cao discussed how within the office, the LSC is also confused about the cultural house’s future.
Next, Mikayla Giehler ’24, chair of the Student Organizations Committee, led the discussion in successfully chartering three new organizations, Pagan +, Macalester the Gathering and Voices in Stem.
After questions about their leadership makeup as well as finding a suitable advisor, Pagan + was passed.
Macalester the Gathering’s two representatives, Redding Sauter ‘26 and Aidan Stekloff ‘24, discussed how successful play groups and their Mac at Night events have been.
Delilah Acosta ‘27 and Liam Acosta Lora ‘27 spoke and answered questions as representatives for Voices in Stem.
After questions about their work with other mental health and STEM clubs as well as specific classes, Voices in the Stem was chartered.
The LB also discussed the college’s sesquicentennial anniversary, voted that the college give out free soccer scarves and created an AD-Hoc committee to use $10,000 to plan a large celebratory event.
The LB finished by splitting up into three working groups for the year: residential life and dining, campus community and mental health/care center, and discussed individually their goals for the year.
