SG offers student organizations $50 to attend senate meetings

A new initiative meant to increase involvement from student organizations went into effect at Tuesday's Student Government meeting.

The initiative will offer representatives $50 to regularly attend SG meetings.

SG was given a grant from the Office of Student Involvement to fund this program. Student representatives will be able to voice their opinions, issues and what they would like to see done on campus. These representatives will not, however, be able to vote on legislation.

"Every speaking right senators have, student representatives will have. They can ask questions during debate," said Heather Engle, chair of Student Senate.

The initiative's intended outcome is to allow student organizations a chance to see how the SG process works.

"We want to recruit more senate members from a diverse set of organizations and allow those representatives to bring a voice to SG," said Josh Smith, a junior majoring in psychology.

SG President Matt Rubin said SG represents the student voice on campus.

"The more effective we are at listening and gathering multiple perspectives, the better we can do our job," he said.

In order to receive the $50, organization representatives will have to attend SG meetings until the end of the semester. Engle said the money will be credited to participating organizations' accounts during the first week in April.

Student representatives will have the same attendance policy as senators. They cannot miss more than two meetings. To make up a day missed they can perform a volunteer activity.

"If we see a great success it would give us a reason to change policies that would replace SAC [Student Activities Committee]," Rubin said.

SG wants more student representatives to become members of Student Senate, according to Rubin.

"In order for this to catch on in the future we would need to see a highly contested, politically active student body," he said.

SG's goal is to raise awareness of what student government does for the students and get feedback.

"Having representatives will definitely get the word out about SG," Smith said. "I think it communicates to student organizations that each of them have a role on campus, and they are all important on campus and to SG. Having a physical presence and dialogue between student organization members and SG can do nothing but benefit both parties."

Student Government meets every Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. in Student Union Building Room 2592.