Tuesday, Feb. 7, the Student Assembly of the College of William and Mary Senate passed two funding bills, The Supporting 3MT Act and The Dairy Vehicular Act VII, as well as a resolution urging the reorganization of graduate students’ student activity fee funds allocation. Sen. Sean Nguyen ’25 and Sen. Spencer Krivo ’26 introduced a bill that would fund condom dispensers. Class President Mia Tilman ’24 introduced a bill that would provide funding for “STI tests and associated office visits.”
Special Business: Garnett Sworn In
Sen. Soleil Garnett ’24, recently appointed by Tilman, took her oath of office. She is filling the vacancy created by former Sen. Gloriana Cubero Fernandez ’24’s exit to study abroad in Madrid, Spain. Garnett is a William and Mary Scholar student.
Special Business: Omnibus Survey Project Presentation
Newly-confirmed SA Data and Analytics Secretary John Willis ’23 gave a presentation on the Omnibus survey project.
The Department of Data and Analytics is planning to launch the inaugural SA Omnibus survey. Willis said the department realized that releasing one large survey, as opposed to many smaller ones, would be more effective.
“The goal of the survey is to measure student opinion on a variety of subjects, using a single instrument, and we think that with y’all support it can achieve outstanding response rates and generate a sample that is aptly representative of the student body providing you all with really helpful insights,” Willis said.
Willis urged senators to complete a submission form to submit a research topic proposal, which will close on Tuesday, Feb. 21, or until the department has received 10 submissions.
“Our goal is to deploy and begin promoting the Omnibus survey on Feb. 23, close it on Mar. 28, and then complete our analysis by April 8,” Willis said.
Special Business: Q3 Finance Review
Nguyen, the chair of the Senate Finance committee, gave a presentation on Q3 funding for Recognized Student Organizations, which the Organization Budget Allocation Committee manages.
OBAC is an organization within SA that consists of members of the Finance Department and members of the Senate Finance committee. It provides funding for RSOs by allocating funds collected from the Student Activities Fee.
108 RSOs so far have received funding from SA this year.
“That’s still a lot more that we can reach considering that over 400 RSOs exist on campus, we’re going to add RSOs every single quarter, but I think it’s a good acknowledgement that with new RSOs that come forth will also be drawing parallels to more RSOs in the future, once the financial process of OBAC becomes clear and more explanatory to those who are still figuring out the new process,” Nguyen said.
RSOs requested $101,908.05 in the first quarter, $74,612.42 in the second quarter and $104,864.33 in the third quarter.
Nguyen said OBAC anticipates RSOs to request more money in the fourth quarter as more events arise.
OBAC has $86,471.55 left to spend for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which accounts for 55.2% of all OBAC budget. While 18.7% of competition funds, $5,600, and 91% of service funds, $27,300.15, are remaining.
Nguyen said OBAC will meet with the College’s HOSA-Future Health Professionals on Thursday, Feb. 9, to discuss its funding appeal that it made regarding funding for the Virginia HOSA State Leadership Conference.
The funding appeals process started in December after the passage of The Appeals Procedure and Parameters for Long-Lasting Equity (APPLE) Act, sponsored by Nguyen.
Under the relatively new legislation, student organizations can submit an appeal for budget allocation to OBAC. If the organization remains unsatisfied with the result, it can further appeal the request, the result of which would be determined by OBAC, the Chair of the Senate Policy and Student Rights Committee and the Chair of the Senate Student Experience Committee.
The bill ultimately designates the Senate Finance Leadership Team, excluding OBAC members, as the final body in the third stage to consider the appeal.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nguyen said, there is more funding left in the SA reserves, with a total of $949,609.98. Only the SA Senate can access this pool of money.
“I throw this number, not to say we should spend it recklessly, because COVID-19 did make this a consequence of why it’s such a large number, I think this is acknowledgement to perhaps spend more,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen said OBAC aims to author new SA code changes to increase the efficiency of deliberations and decision making. He said OBAC aims to increase funding for interest meetings and advertisement for RSOs, as well as requiring them to attend an information session per fiscal year.
The last day for RSOs to submit budget requests for Q4 is Friday, Feb. 17.
Nguyen urged senators to attend a Finance Department information session and an OBAC meeting session.
“I think, as this body, we should all be educated on finance guidelines, even if some of you aren’t specifically on Finance committee or OBAC,” Nguyen said. “It’s just good to be knowledgeable, so if any constituent comes up to you or any RSO leader, you can always reference the knowledge that you intuitively already know.”
“I think, as this body, we should all be educated on finance guidelines, even if some of you aren’t specifically on Finance committee or OBAC. It’s just good to be knowledgeable, so if any constituent comes up to you or any RSO leader, you can always reference the knowledge that you intuitively already know.”
New Business: The Dispensers in Common Quarters Act
Nguyen and Krivo introduced The Dispensers In Common Quarters Act, which would allocate $650 from SA reserves to purchase three condom dispenser stands and three condom dispensers to be located in the Sadler Center.
“This has been our project for the last two or so months,” Krivo said. “Essentially, what it stipulates is, it will purchase, with Student Assembly reserves, two new condom dispensers and their stands for the Sadler front desk and for the desk at CSD, also in Sadler Center.”
The bill would not fund any purchase of condoms, instead, those items would come from the McLeod Tyler Wellness Center and the Center for Student Diversity.
“We thought this bill was a good idea, because it would allow better access to condoms on campus because for now they’re only accessible in the Health Center, and they are, in theory, accessible in CSD, but they haven’t been refilled in a while,” Krivo said.
New Business: The Re-Extending Free STI Testing Act Pt. II
Tilman introduced The Re-Extending Free STI Testing Act Pt. II, which would allocate $10,000 from SA reserves to fund STI tests and associated office visits for diagnosing HIV, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and Syphilis.
“I’m hoping to kind of replenish the fund and then, in this bookend kind of action item, towards the end of the fiscal year when we’re looking at the budget for next year, to kind of reevaluate what the appropriate amount is, because we ran into the same issue last year as well,” Tilman said, referring to the amount of money left to subsidize STI tests offered at the Health Center.
There is currently $2,155 remaining, while Tilman anticipates around $3,000 to be required for the remainder of the academic year.
Old Business
The Senate passed The Graduate Fee Allocation Model Resolution, introduced by Arts and Sciences graduate student Sen. Morgan Brittain. The resolution recommends a change in the allocation of funds derived from the student activity fee paid by graduate students.
The resolution endorses a change to the student activity fee allocation model, where 75% of the fee paid by graduate students are allocated to the graduate schools according to their enrollment, as opposed to the current amount of 50%.
The Senate also passed Brittain’s The Supporting 3MT Act, which allocates up to $1,800 to fund the Three Minute Thesis Competition.
Finally, the Senate passed Chair of the Senate Sen. Eugene Lee ’23’s The Dairy Vehicular Act VII, which allocates $2,000 from SA reserves to hire an ice cream truck to support the Day for Admitted Students event.
Also at this week’s meeting:
- SA Vice President Jasmin Martinez ’23 announced that SA will hold a formal on Thursday, Mar. 2, at the Brickhouse Tavern Williamsburg.
- Cho encouraged senators to turn on their Slack notifications.
- Sen. Max Berckmueller ’23 said he could not access WiFi in Sadler Lodge One the day prior. Cho said the IT department had told him it had fixed WiFi access in the Swem library and the Sadler center. Cho said he would reach out to the department again.
