Last Thursday, Sept. 26, Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) held a Legislative Body (LB) meeting to elect a speaker for the LB, review the MCSG Bylaws and Election Code and to hear general updates from Executive Board members and Cabinet Liaisons.
MCSG Vice President Ryan Connor ’25 opened the meeting by welcoming everyone to a new space as they held the weekly meeting in a classroom in the Theater wing of the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center due to the Board of Trustees’ (BoT) fall session of meetings on campus. Then, the LB turned its focus to electing a speaker of the LB, who will be in charge of facilitating their weekly meetings.
After multiple candidates gave their pitch for why they should serve in the role, a secret vote was held. Sophomore class representative Liv Peterson ’27 was elected speaker of the LB.
“As speaker, it’s crucial to ensure that [the] LB meetings run smoothly, which requires not only levelheadedness, but attention to detail and strong organizational and time management skills,” Peterson said. “I aim to create a space where collaboration thrives, and our work truly is reaching the interest of the student body while ensuring that [the] LB operates efficiently and transparently.”
The meeting then moved on to additional allocation requests from the Financial Affairs Committee (FAC). FAC Chair Luke Evans ’26 presented the request: $4,437.45 for Macalester First Aid to travel to a conference in Pittsburgh.
“They’re going to these conferences to gain some skills in EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and first aid so they can bring those skills back and enrich the college’s emergency medical services,” Evans said.
After the LB approved the allocation, Student Organizations Committee (SOC) Chair Sean Maxfield ’26 moved the meeting to approving charters for new student organizations. First, the LB heard from Petar Elenkov ’25 on behalf of Mac Neurobiology Club.
“The purpose of the Macalester Neurobiology Club is to provide students with opportunities to meet other students participating in research and [students with] similar interests in pursuing careers in neurobiology,” Elenkov said.
The LB voted to approve chartering the Macalester Neurobiology Club and then turned focus to the second organization to be discussed: Macalester Urbanists. Maxfield introduced Macalester Urbanists on behalf of organization leaders Timotei Chas ’27 and Everett Dalton ’27.
“Macalester Urbanists has two main goals, being the social and advocacy space for Macalester students interested in urban design,” Maxfield, reading from a statement prepared by Macalester Urbanists, said. “We aim to examine the built environment and see how its characteristics affect different issues, which can be examined through economic, geographic, international, political, environmental, etc.”
It was during the Macalester Urbanists presentation that MCSG President Joel Sadofsky ’25 and Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) Chair Tristan Niedzielski ’25 joined the LB after finishing a meeting with the BoT Academic Affairs and Campus Life Joint Committee. The Macalester Urbanists’ charter was approved by the LB.
Connor then took the floor again to summarize the key points from a retreat with the LB over the weekend of Sept. 21-22, during which they worked to set their goals for the year and created community guidelines that will steer the focus of MCSG for the coming year.
Afterwards, the LB, under direction from Sadofsky, began to review the MCSG Bylaws and Election Code. Members were invited to take five to 10 minutes to review these documents and suggest edits to them, with proposed amendments then to be discussed and voted on at the next LB meeting.
Updates were then given by most of the committee chairs, as well as most of the liaisons. First, Niedzielski gave an update on the AAC.
“We’re working on getting the GSAT (Graduate School Application Test) grant application out by the end of the month, that is the goal,” Niedzielski said. “Other than that, we are just looking to explore other programs and possibilities going into the semester, and definitely our first meeting is going to be a lot of conversations on Mac Books and what that looks like right at the start of the semester.”
Maxfield then discussed various organizations that will come before MCSG in the coming weeks, including the new Film Club, which will be voted on next week. Additionally, SOC is working with Rocketry Club, Pool Club and Entrepreneurship Club to either reinstate their charters or recharter them under a new document.
Communications and Engagement Committee (CEC) Chair Mena Feleke ’25 gave a brief overview of some CEC initiatives in the works, including a September newsletter tentatively titled “Big Three with MCSG,” wherein students will be updated about three big things relating to MCSG.
Evans presented briefly on an allocation from Badminton Club, which will likely be brought to the LB in the coming weeks, as well as the appointment and approval of FAC at-large members.
Liaisons shared that they have been holding meetings as they settle into their roles and the academic year.
Following these updates, Connor thanked everyone for their attendance and the meeting adjourned.
