On Monday, April 18th, 2016, the UMBC SGA Senate passed the Just Food resolution that supports the Real Food Campus commitment. Just Food has been working the past two years to establish Real food on campus and is looking to establish a relationship with student government in order to reflect the student voice at UMBC.  

Real food is defined as local, organic, humane, and fair. Just Food UMBC stances are:

Purpose: To promote a sustainable and just food system at UMBC by connecting our campus dining to the local agricultural community.

Goal: By 2020, reallocate 20% of our University food budget to food that is organically grown without harmful chemicals, located within 250 miles of our campus, operate on fair trade agreements, and/or raise and kill animals humanely. Provide students with the agency to work with UMBC dining services to maintain these new standards.

The national average for campuses for Real food is 3-7%. 20% is negotiable and hinges on the results of the invoice audit. While the earliest the audit could be concluded is the end of Fall 2016, we will also have a helpful estimate through Towson’s team at the end of Spring 2016. Towson is also a Chartwells school. We are hoping with our efforts along with this resolution of student support to aid us in acquiring the dining audit in order to move forward in our goal of 20% Real Food on campus. 

The resolution shows support to Just Food’s initiative and creates solidarity among student body. This resolution along with survey responses from Just Food and building relationships with Dining Services will enable us to move forward and urge President Freeman Hrabowski to sign the Real Food Campus commitment. 

The Senate would like to thank Senator Rebecca Postowski for her work drafting this resolution.

See the original myUMBC post here!

Creative Alliance (3134 Eastern Ave, Baltimore, MD 21224)

Community Conversation: 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Digital Storytelling Workshop:  2:45 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

In the aftermath of the death of Freddie Gray in April 2015, we need conversations that bring together a variety of voices and communities to address the intersections of poverty, race, ethnicity, and gender and help create new stories about Baltimore. This event will highlight Baltimore communities and stories through conversations about the past, present, and future of the city. Participants will explore questions about equity, identity, immigration, and belonging and discuss how residents' experiences are shaped in and through their neighborhoods. After the conversation, participants can also learn how to use digital storytelling as a way to record and disseminate their voices.

Community Conversation (12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.)

Rodette Jones, Community Activist and Manager of the Filbert Street Community Garden in Curtis Bay, and Nicole King (American Studies)

Maria Nicolaidis, Greektown Resident and Historian, and Michelle Stefano (American Studies)

David Rosario, Baltimore City Mayor's Hispanic Commission Member, and Ana María Schwartz Caballero (MLLI)

Michael Scott, Chief Equity Officer/Founder of Equity Matters, and A. Adar Ayira, Director of Programs, Associated Black Charities and Trainer/Facilitator, Baltimore Racial Justice Action

Digital Storytelling Workshop (2:45 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.)

With Bill Shewbridge (MCS) and Tania Lizarazo (MLLI)

For more program information: http://dreshercenter.umbc.edu/?p=1656

To register: http://goo.gl/forms/NVg6wnJhqF

Questions: dreshercenter@umbc.edu 

The Baltimore Stories project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is a collaboration between the University of Maryland, Maryland Humanities Council, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. 

This Poll will be open from 2:00pm on Saturday April 2nd to 5:00pm Monday April 4th.  

The top polled performers will be offered the opportunity to perform during the festival day - April 23rd so please vote for the people that you want to see. 

Please View the Performers work at the links provided below and then visit the bottom of this page to vote for your favorite artist in the poll.  

1.) UMBC Stilettos - A Capella - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJza117ekWc&feature=youtu.be

2.) Lad the Robot - Band - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M08uAgQDAUs

3.) Dee HouseMF (Devarick Houston) - Rap - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON8TtKV1zQkand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tzsKhzX4UU

4.) Leia Asher - Indie-pop - https://soundcloud.com/user-216999673/sand-heart

5.) Deviir (DeVaughn Jones) - Deep House, Hip-hop - https://soundcloud.com/jeromejonesmusic/gooey-machine-guns-mgk-biggie-glass-animals

6.) Sambrum & DGunz - Hip-hop/R&B with an Indian Twist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23sT8OyVMkE&feature=share

7.) UMBC's Mama's Boys - A Capella - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ry4KLA8gmI

8.) Christina Bartko & Friends - Acoustic - https://soundcloud.com/christina-bartko/leave-the-night-onsam-hunt-cover

9.) DjTutt (Nicholas Pham) - Hip-hop/EDM/Pop -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q54urfQWC-E

10.) UMBeatsClub - Musical Variety Act - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwqnv4jRhnI&feature=youtu.be

11.) Blackjack - Indie/ Alternative Rock - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn54Wov2HzA&feature=youtu.be

12.) DJ Gramkraka (Noah Graham) - Live EDM Mixing -  https://soundcloud.com/noah-graham-13/a-short-mix

13.) Major Definition - Street Dancing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfnev3V0jqo

14.) Coexist & Devin Jano - Alternative R&B/ Hip-hop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f8dWlv28qQ 

15- Conor Brendan & The Wild Hunt - Band  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcUri0c3gVk

16- DJ Sole - Hip-hop/Rap/ R&B - https://soundcloud.com/solemusic92/sin-season

17- Anubis da G.O.D. - Hip-hop/Rap - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC3Sng0VtxE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n3fkYoVft0

If you have any questions please contact - Kaitlin Smith at Ksmith13@umbc.edu 

SGA is looking to implement a new accountability system beginning next academic year - the Stipend Review Committee (SRC). Proposed by Senators Josh Massey and Collin Sullivan, the SRC will ensure each SGA officer who receives a stipend is completing the job you, the students, hired them for. The SRC will not act as a grounds for impeachment if a member does not receive their stipend - however, it may prompt for further investigation from other members in the SGA. All decisions made by the SRC will be made publicly available via the new SGA website and the SGA group on myUMBC. 

After a few weeks of discussions with the SGA Senate and Finance Board, we are opening this up to the student body for review.  We would love to hear feedback from you regarding this new system. Please review this one-pager about the SRC, and feel free to make comments on the document, or in the comments section below.

We look forward to your feedback. Questions? Contact Senators Collin Sullivan (csulli1@umbc.edu) or Josh Massey (joshua.massey@umbc.edu).

Thank you for your continued commitment to making SGA great at UMBC!

Below is a list of the students who submitted applications to run for SGA positions in the April election. This list is preliminary and not final (the names listed below will be checked for eligibility and may appear differently on the ballot, including their order).

All candidates must receive a number of votes equal to at least 5% of the number of total votes cast in the election. Write-in votes are permitted in SGA elections. Candidates are currently elected by plurality, however the SGA Senate and Finance Board are currently considering changing the process by which winners are identified in the President/Executive Vice President, Treasurer, and Vice President for Student Organization contests. For Senate, the top eleven vote-getters will be elected; for Finance Board, the top five vote-getters will be elected.

The election will take place on Monday, April 18th, Tuesday, April 19th and Wednesday, April 20th.

The results will be released on Friday, April 22nd at 12:00 p.m. in the Student Organization Space on the 2nd Floor of The Commons.

All candidates will receive an e-mail message from the Election Board Chair with information about candidate information sessions, SGA Election Rules, and other important information.

Bentley Corbett-Wilson (Running Mate: Mona Patel)

Charles Griffin (Running Mate: Alex Getachew)

Emily Melluso (Running Mate: Isabel Geisler)

Tristan Oetker (Running Mate: Pandora Wilson)

Steven Tappa (Running Mate: Robert Keim)

Calvin Tran (Running Mate: Rachel "Arkie" Katzenberger)

Mona Patel (Running Mate: Bentley Corbett-Wilson)

Alex Getachew (Running Mate: Charles Griffin)

Isabel Geisler (Running Mate: Emily Melluso)

Pandora Wilson (Running Mate: Tristan Oetker)

Robert Keim (Running Mate: Steven Tappa)

Rachel "Arkie" Katzenberger (Running Mate: Calvin Tran)

Joshua Massey

Ayotunde Okusolubo

Sanjum Singh

Carly Socha

Trent Bae

Surovi Bain

Mohsin Ghazali

Jenna Schulze

Kabir Ahmed

Jeremy Drew

Andres Garcia

Alban George

Gerardo Herrera-Cortes

Brianna Jackson

Lillianne Keplinger

Rebecca Kruskal

Nitya Kumaran

Evan Leiter-Mason

Sarah Lilly

Feyisanmi Ojo

Shiv Patel

Jessica Sackey

Ted Sakellariou

Collin Sullivan

Emily Thomas

Chiamaka Ugboh

Meghna Bhatt

Ralph Cyrus

Winfield Taylor

Shelbi Tippett

Mai-Han Trinh

Zuhair Riaz

Nevin Varghese

Gregory Vass

Zhiheng Wang

Gregory Watson

Shiona Wijesekara

Chien Zhou

(seb) is comprised of a large group of diverse students that work together to plan events and cultivate the social culture at UMBC. Within this group, we have volunteer members that provide the creative energy and enthusiasm needed to make our events possible, event programmers that handle the logistical planning, running, and hosting of events from start to finish, and designers and marketers that create posters, manage event promotions, and think of alternative marketing ideas. (seb) is looking to welcome so new faces to our team and we would like to invite you, the UMBC campus community, to join the board. 

(seb) executive board positions are compensated positions and each new hire will be required to make a minimum time commitment of 10 hours per week, in addition to extra hours for events and big weekends like Homecoming and Quadmania. In order to be eligible for this position, you must have and maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.5, and you may not hold a position within Residential Life. The application process is further described below. 

If you are a motivated student who is excited about the idea of becoming a part of campus event planning and you meet the above criteria, we would love to have you apply at the link below. Feel free to drop by the (seb) office - room 2B10 in The Commons or email Logan Dean (ldean1@umbc.edu) with questions regarding applications.