The Senate is SGA’s engine for collecting ideas from students and turning them into campus change initiatives. Members meet weekly (Mondays at 5:30 p.m.) to discuss and develop initiatives, talk with campus administrators and take positions on issues. But most of the Senate’s work takes place between the weekly meetings. Members spend time talking with students, representing all undergraduates on university committees, meeting in project working groups and doing the follow-up needed to get initiatives off the ground.
The Finance Board is the branch of SGA that provides funds to support student organization activities: $200,000 this year. Most of the Finance Board’s work is done at weekly meetings, where student organization leaders present requests and Finance Board members ask questions and make decisions. These meetings, which take place Tuesdays starting at 5:30 p.m., can be both long and intense. Finance Board members have to wrestle with complex issues: applying university policies, striking a balance between supporting amazing events and stretching funds across the entire year, thinking about the precedent-setting impact of their decisions. But they have a lot of fun too, partly because it’s so interactive and engaging.
If you have any questions about the Senate vacancies, contact Valerie Parks at parksva1@umbc.edu. If you have questions about the Finance Board vacancies, contact Samantha Spehr at sspehr1@umbc.edu.
Co-Create UMBC is a blog for and about UMBC, written by David Hoffman and Craig Berger from the Office of Student Life. Join the Co-Create UMBC group on MyUMBC. Like Co-Create UMBC on Facebook. And follow David and Craig on Twitter.