On Thursday, April 17, Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) met in the Weyerhaeuser Boardroom to hear an overview of the college’s budget from Vice President for Administration and Finance Patrica Langer and vote on budget appeals from First-Generation Low Income Student Union (FSU) and MacSwing.
Budget Presentation
Langer began by contextualizing Macalester’s budget beside a group of 40 peer institutions. She explained that this group was established in 1997, meaning that the 40 peer institutions have fewer financial similarities now. Within Macalester’s peer group, institutions have endowments between $85 million to $3.5 billion. On Feb. 28, Macalester’s endowment was exactly $898,413,142, according to Langer. After Langer’s comprehensive summary of the college’s financial health and the cost of attendance, the floor was opened for questions.
Financial Affairs Committee (FAC) Chair David Christenfeld ’27 expressed concern that FAC was not able to fund multiple events that student organizations requested in MCSG’s yearly budgeting process for student organizations, Budget Bonanza. Christenfeld asked if Langer would support raising the student activity fee.
Langer answered that the Legislative Body (LB) controls the student activity fee, but she would support them in changing the student activity fee during next academic year if the LB decided to raise it. Compared to other peer institutions, Langer described Macalester’s student activity fee as doing “relatively well.”
Andrew Lindsay ’28* then asked if Langer was concerned about Macalester’s financial stability due to the current political climate. On Monday, April 21, Harvard University sued the Trump administration after the Trump administration ordered a freeze of $2.2 billion in federal research grants.
While Langer expressed some concerns about funding related to federal research grants, she feels hopeful that President Donald Trump’s administration has not proposed any changes to Title IV funding. Title IV covers federal student aid, including Pell Grants and the federally subsidized student loan programs.
“[If Title IV funding changed,] that would be a much bigger impact across the country, not just at Mac,” Langer said. “But from a research funding perspective—yes, I’m concerned. Am I concerned that it would require us to close our doors? Not even a little bit …It is a problem, but it’s not not as significant as what’s happening at Harvard.”
Senior Class Representative Elizabeth Ekstrand ’25 inquired about recent developments that prevent students without a work study award through financial aid from being hired or continuing a work study at Macalester.
“I’ve heard reports that folks without a federal work study who are currently student workers have been told that they cannot come back next year because there’s no money in the budget,” Ekstrand said. “Is that a college-wide decision? Is that a departmental decision? … I know there are people who do rely on their work study salary, even if they don’t have a Federal Work Study Grant.”
Langer explained that, in order to ensure that students with work studies granted through financial aid have access to work on campus, those without work studies would not be prioritized for entry-level positions. Langer stated that no one has been barred from student employment. The majority of the college’s budget from student employment does not come from the federal government, and Macalester’s work study program “ has always been first and foremost a financial aid program,” according to Langer.
“We haven’t changed our practices,” Langer said. “We’ve been more open and more communicative about reminding everyone that the student employment budget honestly wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for financial aid.”
Student Organization Charters
Student Organization Committee (SOC) Chair Liv Peterson ’27 introduced the charter for LexMac, an organization that aims to prepare students for professional careers in legal studies, including law school. The LB unanimously voted to approve LexMac’s charter. The Italian Language and Culture Club, which invites Macalester students to engage with the greater Twin Cities Italian Community was also unanimously chartered by the LB.
Following concerns regarding the status of Mac Esports’ affiliation with Athletics during the previous week’s LB meeting, Peterson revisited Mac Esports’ charter. She explained that, due to an overlap in the purpose of MacEsports with the already established Macalester Gaming Society, SOC recommends denying the charter. The motion to charter Mac Esports failed with 18 representatives opposed to chartering Mac Esports, and one representative abstaining.
Budget Appeals
The LB continued last meeting’s discussion over two appeals for additional funding. With $2,992.94 in their remaining budget after Budget Bonanza, FAC’s annual process of funding student organizations for the upcoming academic year, MCSG faced a decision between funding the appeal from FSU for $2,212.50 or the appeal from MacSwing for $812.50 in full.
Following the previous week’s MCSG meeting, MacSwing reduced their appeal by $1,625 after their instructor agreed to be paid on a semester-long contract, instead of a yearly one.
Members of the LB began by discussing whether to allocate the $2,212.50 that FSU appealed to the LB in order to give FSU flexibility at the beginning of the year to host events that respond to the needs of first-generation and low-income students as they arise.
Ekstrand began the conversation by asserting that funding FSU’s request would provide first-generation and low-income students with resources that have become increasingly important in the current political climate.
Christenfeld responded, saying that nothing prevented FSU from requesting $2,212.50 from MCSG’s additional allocation process at the beginning of the year.
International Student Liaison Laurice Jimu ’27 also supported funding FSU’s appeal for reasons similar to Ekstrand, as well as concerns that a decision not to fund FSU’s appeal would reflect negatively on MCSG.
First-Year Representative Aisha Ibrahim ’28 felt that FSU did not have a concrete reason that warranted additional funding. Ibrahim explained that, because MacSwing requested funds for instructor fees and FSU appealed for potential events, it seemed better to fund MacSwing’s appeal.
“Being a first-generation student, I do think that what the [Trump] administration is trying to do is very concerning,” Ibrahim said. “And I do think that FSU’s purpose as an organization is amazing, and the support that they provide is obviously very great. But I do have to say that I disagree with the point that they need more funding. This is because … their request does seem a bit bad in terms of what they’re asking for.”
In agreement with Ibrahim, President Joel Sadofsky ’25 claimed that it would be less equitable to fund FSU’s request in full. He argued that, because MacSwing’s request was for specific instructor fees, it should be prioritized.
“While FSU has an expressed purpose of supporting first-generation, low-income students, they do not have the monopoly on ways to support first-generation and low-income students,” Sadofsky said. “Supporting the clearest, best identified uses of the student activity fee for free and low-to-no cost campus resources is the most responsible way to promote that.”
Jimu disagreed; he asserted that not funding FSU’s appeal would prioritize equality over equity.
“With all due respect, if you knew what first-gen, low-income people go through, maybe you’d understand better,” Jimu said. “…If we do accept MacSwing, the $812.50 they asked for, and we do reject FSU we’re just taking back $2,000 dollars back into our pockets as compared to giving it to people who actually asked for it.”
The LB voted unanimously to approve MacSwing’s appeal. Following this vote, no one motioned to approve any amount of funding for FSU.
After hearing a presentation from the Curriculum Implementation Committee (CIC) and committee updates, the Speaker of the LB Ryan Connor ’25 presented the total funds allocated to student organizations during FAC’s Budget Bonanza process, which came to $102,927.33, for approval.
Jimu then motioned to amend FSU’s appeal to $2,180.44, the exact amount that remained in MCSG’s remaining budget for yearly allocation requests. Following the passage of this motion, Jimu motioned to approve $2,180.44 for FSU. The motion failed, with two representatives in favor of funding FSU’s request, 14 opposed and three abstaining.
The LB then voted unanimously to approve the final budget for student organizations of $102,927.33.
Curriculum Implementation Committee presentation
Director of Assessment Nancy Bostrom presented on the CIC’s work in revising the college’s general education requirements. Bostrom stated that, last December, around 27 percent of Macalester’s senior class responded to a survey regarding general education requirements. These responses indicated support for continuing Macalester’s language requirements, but some desired a different pathway to satisfy this requirement, according to Bostrom.
CIC is currently investigating Macalester’s writing and internationalism requirements, in hopes of making them more navigable for students. CIC plans on sharing drafts of a revised curriculum with faculty and staff in mid-May and with students during the upcoming fall semester.
Following Bostrom’s presentation, Junior Class Representative Marina Moberg ’26 asked about what determines whether a class satisfies a general education requirement. Bostrom explained that, in order for a class to satisfy a requirement, professors must submit an application to the General Education Requirement Committee. However, some professors may not submit requests, meaning that some classes could theoretically involve course content that satisfies a requirement without it actually contributing to students’ general education requirements.
*Andrew Lindsay & Viktorie Spurná contributed to reporting for this article.
*Andrew Lindsay is a Staff Writer for The Mac Weekly.
