Student Orgs and Money

I've just finished contacting a large number of student organizations who turned in budgets but didn't receive a whole lot of their requests in order to remind them that can and should apply for SGA funds by Additional Allocation. Emails went out to the President and Treasurer of all those clubs as listed in their Initial Budget Requests. So my conclusion is if you're a student organization and you have an event that you would like to see happen and need money for it, come ask for it. This is especially true for organizations that haven't receive any money or even very little this year from the SGA. If your president and treasurer didn't get an email from me, but you still want funding for more events please still do apply.

On the subject of Student Organizations and money, it has occurred to me that we are in danger of facing a situation where the fiscal year will end (June 30th) and a lot of funds that were given out for events will come back to the SGA. Some organizations have been contacted by my staff in order for us (the SGA) to try and help you spend your money and make these events happen. If your organization has received a lot of money and is facing difficulty with planning or executing an event please contact me and either I will help you or I will get someone to help you. If you have money left over from events that were less expensive or that didn't happen, reallocate those funds to something else. Let's see this year end with a bang and increase the number of happenings on campus from student orgs.

indek1@umbc.edu

Sharing Zwyback Stories Online

^^^^^^^^^^

See that button? When you mouse over it a bunch of different options pop up that allow you to share Zwybak stories on your favorite social websites, such as Facebook. Simply click on the Facebook link among the options that pop up and it will open a window that allows you to post the story on your page. This is great if you're an author and have written something you are extra-proud of or if you've read something that you think is significant and would benefit from additional discussion.

Try it out and be sure to send any feedback my way.

Retention and Woolies

This was a busy day for me. I attended a 3-hour Retention Working Group meeting this morning with faculty, staff, and administrators from across campus, and I was amazed to see a bunch of statistics comparing entering freshmen and transfers from 1995 up to the present. However, the discussion after the presentation really impressed me. People came to the conclusion that we have all of this data about which students are more likely to have struggles at UMBC and have a greater chance of not graduating, but helping to prevent that is a challenge in itself. How do you advise a student to take a lesser course load without sending the message that you don't believe they can make it? A lot of students don't realize that there are some good people trying to improve the undergraduate experience and truly care about student success.

This afternoon, I met with Lee Calizo, Cindy Paige, and Jackie Wilson about possibly moving the SGA Retreat earlier so that SGA members can go through Woolie training for Welcome Week. It seems like on the housing end, this would definitely be feasible. Woolies bring so much energy for the start of the school year, and I'm hoping that by adding numbers, Welcome Week can be even better for new students. If you are interested in being a Woolie (or an Orientation Peer Advisor, shameless plug), follow the link below.


http://www.umbc.edu/orientation/leaders.html

CGA in action this past week

i initially wanted to post parts of this as a comment on the Defining Marriage in MD wall but i thought it would be a good idea to post it as a new blog to show , many times we debate issues, and josh and i do not agree all the time, and the cga is not perfect- contrary to popular belief ;p

the past monday cga had a meeting to discuss what the course of action for the next month or so. heres my version of the minutes.

brian frazee is in the final steps of finalizing the red card initiative, which saves us students some change around the community when presented at a place of business. For more on the red card initiative go here-http://sga.umbc.edu/redcard/.

stephanie is heading up the voter registration. if you need to register to vote please do and if you need a registration card you can either print one out here or come pick one up at the sga office.

ive been brainstorming the idea of having a cga poll function on myUMBC so that we can, at times, get a better feel of what the 'beat' on campus is ive set up a mtg with collier jones in oit and am hoping to have that option ready to roll soon.

josh has been lobbying in annapolis pretty much every other day on textbook, tuition, and tuition reembursement legislation.

in other news josh and i have had an ongoing discussion about lobbying in regards to gay marriage legislation in annapolis.

ill try to quote myself. at the past cga mtg to provide my opinion-

'this is sticky. people have very strong opinions about this issue. one side or the other. it would be very difficult to represent the entire campus on this issue. regardless of our stance people will be pissed and polarized. abstenance is 100% effective at certain points in time.'

'there are ceratin bills that the entire campus (or pretty damn close to the entire campus) would be in favor of and by supporting the cga would give a voice to the entire campus in annapolis on these issues, (ie text books being cheaper, a dedicated source of funding for higher ed, tuition reembursement, etc.).'

just wanted to fill everyone in, briefly, what the cga has been doing.

Vote for AEC Player of the Year

Two of UMBC's players have been nominated for player of the year in the America East Conference. Anybody can vote so long as they enter their name and email address. Both Jay Greene and Brian Hodges are representing UMBC; however, you are only allowed to vote for one.

http://www.americaeast.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&ATCLID=1399016&DB_OEM_ID=14000

Men's Basketball Goes to Binghamton!

For those who haven't seen the Facebook group, there are talks of sending buses to Binghamton next weekend for UMBC students to support the Men's Basketball team as they compete in the America East Tournament as the #1 seed.

http://umbc.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10472784618

The SGA has been trying to work with Athletics, RSA, and other organizations to make this happen. There is a proposal, that must go through the Senate and Finance Board first, to fund buses to go up to Binghamton, relieving students of this cost. However, there are still questions of liability (whether students can stay over night for the next day's game), handling of tickets, and how to get students on those buses.

After funding 3 tailgates this year, I'm really hoping that funding a trip for students to watch the team play will really make an impact on school spirit at UMBC. Please keep your eyes and ears open for updates on this amazing opportunity.

*UPDATE - 3/4/08*

The SGA Senate voted unanimously to provide $12,000 towards 4 fan buses for the Binghamton trip this weekend! The legislation will go through the Finance Board tonight at 5:30pm, and if passed there, we will have the capacity to send over 200 UMBC students to support our Men's Basketball team.

The Teacher Ratings Book

Hey everyone, I checked the website for Intstitutional Research and they finally have the results of the SCEQ's from fall 2007 up! This means production of the teacher rating's book I've been talking about can finally begin. I already have put together a test page that I will be bringing to the Cabinet meeting tonight so if you want to see it, stop by.

I need help though if this book is going to get done by the time class registration starts up for next fall. There is a lot of data to go through so if you want to help me, shoot me an e-mail. I am so excited for this book, it's gonna rock! Stay tuned for more updates.

The Final Five

The announcement is in - five finalists have been selected from the twenty-two submitted Prove It proposals. Congratulations to everybody who submitted a proposal! If you were not among the finalists, your group should be receiving feedback from the selection committee as soon as we can get everything compiled. It is my hope that at least some of the groups will be able to make a few key modifications and perhaps continue to work with the contacts they developed to make their ideas happen even outside of Prove It.

At any rate, brief summaries of the five finalists are below, kindly provided by Elizabeth Silberholz of The Retriever Weekly.

• Revamping the UMBC Pond: Improve the Library Pond's sanitary and maintenance system, landscape the area around the pond, and add a deck area.
• Student Creative Center: Establish a Student Creative Center where students could have 24/7 access to art supplies and tools.
• Transforming the "Study Place": Add dining and lounge options to the Study Place.
• Ropes and Challenge Course: Add a ropes and challenge course on campus to encourage team-building and leadership training.
• Green Space: Create a green space near the Fine Arts building

A feedback system for each of these proposals will be launching next week which will allow the various groups to provide direct responses to your comments; in the meantime you are welcome to leave comments and feedback here or elsewhere.

Textbook bill hearing provokes tense debate - News

Textbook bill hearing provokes tense debate - News

Global Solutions Act

So in case you haven't heard the exciting news, Governor O'Malley is trying to decrease
Maryland's carbon footprint by proposing the Global Solutions Bill!

Here's a link to official press release:
http://www.governor.maryland.gov/pressreleases/080219b.html

Here's a copy of the proposed bill:
http://mlis.state.md.us/2008RS/billfile/sb0309.htm

This is my interpretation of the bill:

The purpose of this bill is to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in the
state of Maryland.

This is to create grants and programs to support local government in
implementing this policy. This creates the Office of Climate Change under
the Maryland Environment Department. Its duties include: making sure
that the companies maintain the low emission practices, enforcing the
limits, and keeping all the records public. They are also charge with
public relations. I'm assuming this means promoting what they are doing.

They get their their funding through RGGI (Regional Greenhouse Gas
Initiative (http://www.rggi.org/). Basically RGGI establishes a
cap-and-trade policy with polluting companies. A cap-and-trade policy is
where the government issues a certain number of permits that allow a
company to pollute. The companies are free to trade these permits with
each other. This allows for some companies, that are already green, to
perhaps have more permits to sell to another company who isn't as
green-saavy. But the objective here is that with the limited amount of
permits, one can control the amount of pollution, without giving a huge
financial burden on the companies straight away.

If the state cannot make enough money to support the new office with these
funds, they will implement a fee of four cents/ton of CO2 emitted. Still
unsure of the amount of that MD produces, hard to find on internet...
either way, with the new Climate Change Taskforce on campus, UMBC will
soon have numbers stating the amount that we emit, and in that way, UMBC
is most definitely affected.

The last important note to mention is the power of the Governor to declare
an Energy Emergency. If he does this, he is permitted (with the approval
of a committee) to delay the requirements of greenhouse gas emissions by
1 calendar year.

The numbers are as follows:

By 2012- 10% reduction in GHG according to 2006 levels
2015- 15%
2020- 25%
2050- 90%

If you have any questions, please email me (or comment here) at lipinsk1@umbc.edu

*Chef's Fare-Wednesday 2/27

Come out to what is called the "Chef's Fare" this coming Wednesday night in the dining hall! The Chef's Fare is a night where other chefs from various schools are invited to compete with UMBC's chef. The idea is you enter the dining hall and the chef's prepare their specialty dish for everyone to sample, and at the end you get a chance to vote on which dish you liked most. Our very own chef has traveled to two other events so far this semester and has come out victorious on both occasions! If you see an item you've never seen before, you're encouraged to try it. It is very important that you go to the dining hall Wednesday night and participate in this event because it could have a beneficial impact on you. If you like what you tried (no matter which chef made it), and whatever was offered becomes popular, then sodexho will add it to their program, and you will see it more often throughout the semester. All of the chefs have culinary degrees, and are qualified to work at hotels and restaurants, so there will be some quality competition to say the least... come HUNGRY!

Defining Marriage in Maryland

Advocating on behalf of the students of UMBC is the main work of the SGA. And so, I am presenting an issue that affects a significant portion of our constituency. The Maryland General Assembly is considering a bill (House Bill 351 - Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act) that would redefine civil marriage in Maryland. The bill would allow any two individuals, who otherwise are not restricted from marrying, to be married under Maryland law. Student leaders and SGA members at St. Mary's College of Maryland are advocating for this legislation and have contacted our SGA about considering this issue.

What do you think about the legislation? Further, do you think this is an issue that the SGA should be lobbying on?