President Joseph Panciotti reports that he was contacted by an anti-war group from Tufts University requesting contact information from the UMB Anti-War Coalition. Anyone who knows of any other organizations on campus with similar concerns may contact President Panciotti.

Senator Andrew Barnes was removed from the Budget & Finance Committee and appointed to Faculty Council Representative. This was done because of the requirements of Senate bylaws, and in consideration of the fact that Senator Barnes is interim faculty council representative.

Higher Education Made Personal

After meeting with Chancellor JoAnn Gora, Student Trustee Heather Dawood, along with five other students including Senators Hyppolite and Barnes, are organizing a group tentatively called “Higher Education Made Personal.” The purpose of the group is to launch a personal letter-writing campaign where people will be given an opportunity to write their Legislative Representative and tell their story in order to garner support for UMB. Anyone interested can contact Senator Fritz Hyppolite.

Kiosk Stations

Kathleen Teehan, Vice Counselor for Enrollment Management spoke last Wednesday about the new kiosks that are being installed this semester (one is already in the Administration building). The kiosks will facilitate students with just about anything that students could do using the WISE system (check grades, bills, transcripts, etc). Due to its popularity, the kiosk program is being accelerated, with the purchase of several more kiosks. Counselor Teehan invites any organization to participate by purchasing a kiosk.

Requests for Funding

After a bit of confusion involving order, the Senate approved a motion to sponsor half the cost of a kiosk to be placed in Wheatley building. The cost of a kiosk is $3200, of which the Student Senate will pay half, or $1600. Tentatively, the other half of the kiosk’s cost might be sponsored by the Graduate Student Assembly.

The Physics Club requested an additional $700 at the Student Senate meeting for their trip to the Aricebo Observatory in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Citing complications involved with securing transportation once they’ve arrived in Puerto Rico, Physics Club President John Ramos requested that their funding be increased to $5700. Ramos placed emphasis on the experience that students would bring back to the school and the importance of the observatory, which uses a new method of radio cosmology to observe objects as far as 1000 light years away, “Its achievements are unparalleled anywhere in the world,” he states. As a friendly amendment to the motion for funding, Senator Jesse Solomon suggested that the Senate further increase the funding $1500 beyond the requested increase, for a total of $7200. The motion passed. There are 10 seats available to all UMB students, chosen from a lottery drawn out of everyone interested.

A request for $3400 was made by the Queer Student Union for a “Campus Community Against Violence and Crime” meeting to be held in April in the Wheatley Lounge. An abbreviated version of the film “Journey to a Hate Free Millennium” will be shown, and a discussion will be held afterwards with the director. The motion passed.

The Golden Key Club requested $2000 in order to go to a conference held at Queen’s College, NYC. The motion passed, though Senator Tuan Pham stated his reservations about supporting a club that is not all-inclusive (due to grade-point average restrictions).

Student Life director Joyce Morgan reminded Sen. Pham that though the Golden Key International Honor Society is exclusive, the UMass club that is affiliated with it is not, as per the requirements of forming a club on campus: No RSO (Recognized Student Organization) may discriminate against students desiring to join the RSO.

The conference will be held March 28-30 and four non-Key members are invited to join the seven Golden Key members on the trip. Senator Kristina Lopez was chosen to be the Student Senate representative for the selection committee, which will be tasked with selecting one applicant from each college to go to Queens College. The selection committee will also include a representative from Student Life as well as one from Golden Key.

The Black Student Center’s Eighteenth Annual Fashion Show is a reality despite the strong reservations that many senators shared concerning costs to run the show and ticket prices. The Student Senate approved $15,700 for the BSC’s fashion show, which will be held April 26. This event marks the culmination of the “First Annual Hip Hop Week,” also run by the BSC. All money raised will be donated towards the Early Learning Center.

College of Arts and Sciences

Faculty Representative Andrew Barnes brought to the Student Senate’s attention an open meeting March 31 at 1:30pm to discuss distance learning. The College of Arts and Sciences is splitting into two seperate colleges: the College of Arts and the College of Sciences. According to Senator Barnes, “Enrollment is low, but retention is steady.”