LB approves textbook budget, table tennis club

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At the Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) meeting on Tuesday, March 8, first-year representative and Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) member Joel Sadofsky ’25 presented his bill to increase funding for the Macalester’s Textbook reserve program. Funded by the AAC, the program works with the library to purchase textbooks for students to borrow. The Textbook Reserve program has a budget of $10,000 each year plus 7% rollover from the previous year. Macalester’s institutional records show that this budget has not increased since at least the 2015-16 school year. The proposed bill increases the program’s budget to $13,000 with the 7 percent increase from last year.

The Committee on Financial Affairs (FAC) had previously approved the bill and the Legislature (LB) unanimously passed the bill. The new budget will be included in the forthcoming revision of the FAC’s Finance Code.

The LB then welcomed Marty Stoner ’25 and Matthew Sullivan ’23 to present their charter for a proposed table tennis club. In earlier years there was a table tennis student organization but it broke up due to lack of resources. A chartered table tennis club would provide members with funding to purchase permanent equipment.

“Our goal with this is really just to make it fun,” Sullivan said. “We try to stay away from anything remotely related to club sports… Our main interest is the fun of playing ping pong with friends.”

The charter was approved by the Student Organizations Committee (SOC) and unanimously adopted by the LB.

MCSG devoted the remainder of the meeting to updates from various committees. SOC’s first year representative, Eliora Hansonbrook ’25, announced that the deadline for completing the charter process for new organizations is April 4th.

Next, Vice President and Chair of the Student Services and Relations Committee (SSRC), Jordanella Maluka ’23, discussed the SSRC meeting with Jen Jacobsen, executive director of the Hamre Center, on increasing mental health resources and access to menstrual products.

“We had a very productive and effective meeting,” said Maluka. “Jacobsen made a very positive impression [access to menstrual products]we will continue to push that forward.”

The SSRC also agreed to work following the statement on transparency in student elections Delay in last month’s elections. Similarly, SOC chair Katie McCarthy ’22 said some of the LB are working to put together an information page for students that explains the voting code and how the Electoral Procedures Committee (EPC) works.

President Shreya Nagdev ’22 informed the LB that she would attend bi-weekly meetings with the Chairs of the Faculty Advisory Council and Human Resources Advisory Council to improve communication between staff and the MCSG. The Faculty Advisory Board plans to attend an MCSG meeting in the coming weeks.

Finally, Nagdev asked the MCSG to reassess their comfort level in face-to-face meetings in an anonymous form. If enough members agree, MCSG will resume in-person meetings in April. This decision will be made after spring break.

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