The Associated Student Government (ASG) typically holds board meetings from 3-5 p.m. on the first and third Monday of every month. The most recent meeting was on April 16 in the boardroom of the 1000 Building. Students may attend if they would like to meet their representatives or voice an issue. In addition, students may meet with their representatives in the Student Life Office on the third floor of the PUB on most weekdays.
The next meeting will be April 30.
Mini Grants
Badminton Club
The Badminton Club requested $445 to buy shuttlecocks for their weekly practice and upcoming tournament. Chak Him Kam, the president of Badminton Club, said there are 25 members in the club and the school gym doesn’t have enough shuttlecocks for their meetings, which happen twice a week.
The club would use the grant to buy 300 feather shuttlecocks in total, and to ensure best quality, Kam said each shuttlecock would only be used for a day.
Requested: $445
Granted: $445
Black Student Union
A trip to Family Fun Center in Edmonds on April 24 is planned by the Black Student Union (BSU) to celebrate graduating members and to recruit new members.
The club requested $523.70, covering mini games, pizza and drinks. Terrance Bishop, the representative for the BSU, said they are planning to bring participants to the location by carpool and the campus shuttle bus services. But it was then clarified by SCC Program Support Supervisor Micaela Smith that the requester has to pay for the shuttle driver’s mileage. It was then agreed to pay the mileage and food cost with the club’s baseline budget of $150.
Requested: $523.70
Granted: $441
SCC Swimming Club
Due to the strong feedback from participants of the kayaking event last summer quarter, the Swimming Club is going to take 26 people kayaking this quarter on May 26 at Green Lake.
The club secretary Yi-ting Chou said it would be an hour of kayaking with a picnic afterward. The grant was requested to cover the cost of food and boat rentals.
The Technological Affairs Officer Aung Thiha Kyaw asked whether all of the participants know how to kayak or swim. Yun-shan Tsai, the vice president of the club, said swimming is not a requirement for joining the event, saying, “Kayaking is really easy, like everyone knows how to do it. … Students would be wearing life vests and there is always a lifeguard for safety purposes.”
According to Tsai, the club is planning to do this event because the spring weather is nice and she believes it is a good chance for outdoor activities.
Before moving on, President Yorin Anggari suggested they look for sustainable alternatives for the use of picnic utensils.
Requested: $410
Granted: $410
Muslim Student Association
The first time Muslim Student Association (MSA) will be holding an event called Interfaith Dialogue for Challenging Times, inviting three religious leaders from Judaism, Christianity and the Islamic faith on May 9 in the Quiet Dining Room to have a conversation about dealing with challenging times.
The president of MSA and ASG club affairs officer, Fatoumata Jammeh, said the purpose of the event is to let members of the school hear a conversation on religious matters and learn the difference between these religious perspectives.
Each speaker’s appointment costs $300. The club requested the mini grant to pay for two speakers’ appointment fees, saying they plan on covering the remaining $300 and food cost with their baseline budget.
Anggari reminded the club to be aware of any audience members or any part of the event involving violence or discrimination, which could violate SCC’s community standard.
Jammeh abstained from voting.
Requested: $600
Granted: $600
Hiking Club
The Hiking Club has held a hiking trip every quarter this year. For this quarter, the club is planning to have a hiking trip to Mount Si on May 12.
According to the club’s president, Zach Peeples, their goal is to promote physical and mental health and relieve students’ stress. In addition to this, he said this trip would be the longest and steepest hike they’ve had this year. They aim to bring 55 students and one chaperone on the trip.
The club requested the mini grant for the cost of food for their event informational session, as well as for the lunch they will provide on the hike and the bus expenses.
Peeples said they think a motor coach is essential for this event because of the motor coach’s larger capacity, restrooms and extra storage for their equipment. For reliability, the club picked BusBank to provide transportation.
They provided another two transportation alternatives for the board to consider. One was the MTR Wester company which would cost $399 less, though with unknown reliability. Another one was the First Student company which would seat 10 people fewer for the event than the other two plans but it would also cost $726.88 less than the first choice.
The discussion between ASG members bounced between the three options, taking into consideration the cost and companies’ reliability. The board decided to choose the alternative of MTR Wester and amended the grant amount.
Requested: $1825.10
Granted: $1426
Recognition
NW (Northwest) Lunar Initiative
The purpose of the club is to have a safe space for students to practice mindfulness, compassion and self-love through discussion of deep philosophical questions, according to Club President Jade Roque.
Throughout the process, the club wishes to stimulate creative thinking and deeper thoughts on how they feel about where they are in a silent area.
Their upcoming meetings will be falling on a new moon or a full moon, Roque said. Starting from the date of recognition, the club will have five meetings this quarter which will be held every two weeks on Mondays.
Housekeeping
Budget Transfer
The Recognized Student Organization (RSO) fund is allocated for club baseline budgets and was lowered last year with the understanding that money will be transferred from the Services & Activities (S&A) contingency fund as needed, according to Program Support Supervisor Micaela Smith.
The S&A this year has a contingency fund of $15,000 and the RSO is already over budget. This year’s RSO has 56 recognized active clubs as of Feb. 9, compared to the 48 active clubs last year, with a few still in the process of being created.
“When we have 56 active clubs, we are already over by about $6,100,” Smith said. “From here, (the budget and finance officer) actually has to stop doing transfers from (the RSO) until we get the money moved to there.”
She said one of the unforeseen causes of being over budget is the increased living cost for faculty, affecting the stipend amount. All of the stipends were already transferred to the budget which was lower than what the faculty needed. The school has to pay faculty more under a Washington State regulation.
Due to the growing number of newly established clubs and the increased funding for faculty, Smith expected to have $10,000 more in the budget to transfer from the contingency to the RSO fund.
Anggari addressed the problem that a lot of clubs do not use their whole baseline budget, despite a large amount of active clubs this year. And she said she believed the calculation was based on the usage of the full baseline budget, asking, “If the baseline budget of a club is not being used by the end of the year, would that money be able to come back to pay for the (next year)?”
Smith said they are not able to do that under the current budget system. By the end of the year, anything left from both the baseline budget and mini grants will only go to the reserve fund, which can’t be accessed by ASG.
Anggari encouraged more training for clubs about their baseline budget and different opportunities on campus to make sure the $500 baseline budget is used.
The recognition was then approved after a long discussion among the board.
By Frances Hui,
Political Editor