SGA Approves Executive Budget for the Upcoming Academic Year in the Final Meeting of the Semester
By Catherine O’Grady
Catholic University’s Student Government Association (SGA) met for the last time this semester on Monday, April 27 to wrap up the academic year and give senators one last opportunity to pass resolutions. The meeting was held via Google Hangouts due to the recent pandemic that has shut down Catholic University’s campus.
After the formalities including the adoption of the agenda and committee reports, the evening began with confirmation of the new treasury board director appointees. The new appointees include Sean McKenna, Rebecca Loveless, Jordan Farrell, Will McGowan, Ryan Smith, Curtis Bommer, and Karla Martinez-Victoria. All appointees were unanimously approved by the senate.
The next piece of legislation on the agenda was the approval of the executive elect’s budget for the 2020-2021 academic year. The budget consisted of a substantial increase in SGA’s operating budget for the upcoming academic year. The operating budget for next year amounts to $37,800, a $6,800 increase from last year. The Student Government hasn’t seen an increase in budget over the past three years. According to Treasurer Monica Wallace’s presentation two weeks ago, the treasury board has seen an increase of student organization presentations allocating Treasury board for funds, which was the motivation behind the increase in the budget to allow the growth of SGA’s organization on campus. The increase is also a result of the executive initiatives being funded by SGA for the first time.
Regardless of the concerns voiced by senators including the increase of the entire budget, the funding of executive initiatives, and the budget for promotional goods, the executive elect’s budget was passed by the senate 20 yeas to 4 nays.
“I have full faith this money will be put to good use so that a year from now many of you who I hope will return to SGA can sit here and know in your heart of hearts that taking this bold risk was worth it,” said Cavan Hagerty.
An update of the Treasury Board bylaws was then presented to the Senate and was approved unanimously.
The next piece of legislation on the agenda was Bill 003 presented by Hagerty to amend Article IX of the treasury board bylaws to make the Senate and Treasury Board Bylaws agree verbally, in accordance to the bylaws passed previously. The bill passed the Senate unanimously.
Resolution 023 by Chris Carey to reform midterm examination conflicts was then presented. The resolution’s purpose is to allow students to rearrange their midterm exam schedule if they are presented with three or more midterm exams on one day, the same policy that is in place for final exams. The resolution was passed by the Senate unanimously to be sent to the administration for consideration.
The new business was concluded with Hagerty’s speaking during his reserved time to share his gratitude for Vice President Kaitlin Shanahan. Hagerty then yielded time to the other committee leaders to allow them to share their gratitude. His comment was followed up by an open floor where senators shared their gratitude towards the entire senate, admiration for the senior senators graduating, and hope for the future of the SGA senate.
The inauguration for the new SGA executives will occur on May 1st via social media.
