On Thursday, April 10, Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) held their weekly Legislative Body (LB) meeting in the Weyerhaeuser Boardroom to appoint a Student Organization Committee (SOC) Chair for the remainder of the semester, hear budget appeals from two student organizations and vote on charters for student organizations.
SOC Chair and Interim Speaker of the LB appointments
Following the previous-SOC Chair Alec Chen’s ’26 decision to step down from his role, President Joel Sadofsky ’25 nominated Speaker of the LB Liv Peterson ’27 as SOC Chair for the rest of the semester, with the reasoning that Peterson has been elected SOC Chair for the 2025-26 academic year. Sadofsky also cited MCSG’s Election Code, which states that elections should not be held when vacancies occur with fewer than eight weeks remaining in a semester.
The LB voted to appoint Peterson as the new SOC Chair with 29 members voting in favor and one abstaining.
Vice President Ryan Connor ’25 was appointed to replace Peterson as the interim Speaker of the LB. Connor explained that, due to the few remaining LB meetings, it would be simpler for him to serve as Speaker of the LB for the remainder of the semester.
Budget appeals
Two student organizations, First Generation Low Income Student Union (FSU) and MacSwing, appealed to the LB to request more funding for the 2025-26 academic year. FSU originally appealed for $4,425.00, but revised their appeal to $2,212.50 to pay for potential event expenses at the beginning of the year. MacSwing appealed for $2,437.50 to account for their instructor fees. Following Budget Bonanza, MCSG’s yearly process of allocating budgets to student organizations, student organizations have the ability to appeal their budget to the LB in order to obtain more money.
Financial Affairs Committee (FAC) Chair David Christenfeld ’27 announced that FAC currently has $2,992.94 remaining for organizations to appeal for next academic year. This constraint prevents the LB from funding both appeals in full without dipping into a negative balance.
FSU representative Richard Rose ’25 explained that FSU tries to base their events off of student needs, which has previously resulted in events coming together within the period of a few weeks. Rose emphasized that, if FSU wants to plan an event before or shortly after MCSG opens their requests for operating funds, they may struggle to get funding in time.
“[At] Macalester, we have a high dropout rate of first generation local students. That’s a huge thing that Macalester is dealing with right now, and we’re really kind of the only [organization that is] trying to combat that right now through both advocacy and resource distribution,” Rose said.
MacSwing representative Sophia Esquenet ’25 explained that MacSwing has hired the same instructor for the past seven years and that their instructor requires full payment at the beginning of the semester. Esquenet stated that, without an instructor to teach new members how to dance, MacSwing would struggle to attend the off-campus events that have connected members to the greater Twin Cities swing community.
“So what we’re doing here is really trying to make a community,” Esquenet said, “A lot of our members after coming to swing have come up to me …[and said] ‘this is the thing that allowed me to make friends in this new city that I moved to.’”
The LB will vote on both appeals during their meeting on Thursday, April 17.
Student Organization Charters
Peterson introduced charters for two proposed student organizations: Mac Esports and Mac Creative Writing.
Peterson explained that Mac Esports aimed to foster a video gaming community for both competitive and non-competitive gamers. Christenfeld asked if Mac Esports had considered reaching out to athletics to become a club sport; he clarified that, due to FAC’s budget restraints and the cost of Esports equipment, chartering Mac Esports “is not guaranteeing funding for them.” Peterson responded that SOC anticipated that Mac Esports would eventually become a club sport. Athletics and Recreation Liaison Ash Granda-Bondurant ’27 clarified that club sports are required to participate in a league, which does not fit with the charter’s stated focus on casual play.
Following more discussion about the potential for Mac Esports to join a league, Belonging and Accessibility Liaison Willow Albano ’26 presented another concern: they currently know of someone who was paid as a student worker to manage Esports. Sadofsky and Christenfeld personally confirmed that they also knew this individual. In response, Sadofsky motioned to table chartering Mac Esports until the LB “can figure out what the history of the Esports integration with Athletics is.”
Alma Capone ’28 presented the charter for Mac Creative Writing. Capone shared that Mac Creative Writing seeks to build a writing community for everyone from casual writers who may not have the opportunity to take creative writing classes to those looking to enter competitions and pursue careers in creative writing. The LB unanimously voted to charter Mac Creative Writing.
Cabinet Updates
Granda-Bondurant shared that he recently met with Athletics Director Donnie Brooks to discuss improving participation in intramural sports. The two are working to resolve this by increasing communication about intramural tournaments and sign-ups.
Residential Life and Dining Liaison Galjer Yangwaue ’27 shared that she and others have been working with Director of Residential Life Kyle Flowers to evaluate showers in residence halls. The anti-fatigue mats that Yangwaue advocated the college buy for Cafe Mac workers have now been ordered.
International Student Liaison Laurice Jimu ’27 shared that he is currently in conversation with International Student Programs (ISP) about holding information sessions offering guidance on travel and what to do if detained. He also confirmed that no Macalester student has had their visa revoked and that ISP checks the status of each student’s visa at the beginning and end of each day.
