The Undergraduate Student Government amended three USG bylaws during its March 17 general council meeting at Scooter’s.
Guests Executive Vice President and Provost Eddy Rojas and Dean of the Morrison Family College of Health MayKao Hang spoke at the meeting and finances were reviewed.
Bylaw changes
Vice President of Administrative Affairs Ben Hackett proposed three bylaw amendments pertaining to position tasks and selection, which USG members approved unanimously.
The first proposed change was enhancing the current role of the Vice President of Public Relations to the Vice President of Public Relation and Communication.
“Essentially, what we’re proposing to change is to make the Vice President of Public Relations expand its role to be more communication-oriented,” Hackett said, “so we can have one unified source, one singular source, to ensure that communication coming out of USG and to other sources, such as TommieMedia, will be unified and cohesive overall.”
The second proposed bylaw change turned the positions of Intercultural Affairs Representative and Spirituality Committee Chair from elected to appointed positions.
Instead of being elected by the student body, the Intercultural Affairs Representative will be appointed by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the Spirituality Committee Chair will be appointed by Campus Ministry.
Hackett explained that these selection changes were proposed “in order to better streamline the process and in order to make sure that the positions are filled.”
Guest speakers
Rojas gave updates on three dean searches occurring across campus disciplines for the College of Arts and Sciences, Opus College of Business and Dougherty Family College.
Less than seven candidates remain in each college, according to Rojas. The search process has included conducting interviews, running social media reports and facilitating votes from students.
“We have outstanding candidates in all of these dean searches,” Rojas said. “I know that any one that I pick is going to be a fabulous dean.”
The best fit candidates will be selected and announced in the coming weeks, Rojas said.
The Morrison Family College of Health was established in 2019 following a landmark donation from John M. Morrison and Susan Schmid Morrison. Hang reviewed her goals in leading the college and explained modifications being made to the college in the next year.
“The College of Health has been designed to actually advance the common good for those who are most disenfranchised in society,” Hang said. “Eighty percent of what actually creates good health is actually outside of those hospital walls, and that’s what we’re teaching students to do in the College of Health.”
The college encompasses four disciplines, including the School of Nursing, the department of health and exercise science, the School of Social Work and the Graduate School of Professional Psychology.
The School of Nursing is a new addition to the college and is being launched next fall. It will include two pre-licensure nursing programs: Bachelor of Science in nursing and Master of Science in nursing.
Despite the college already consisting of about 800 students, “We have 300 first-time, first-year students who’ve been admitted to St. Thomas who have identified nursing as a primary major,” Hang said. “We have another 279 some first-time, first-year students who have identified health and exercise science as a primary major.”
Finances
Initial club funding requests were approved for nine clubs, totaling $29,802, which included $1,940 in funding for nine members of Gamma Iota Sigma to attend the Drake Symposium on April 8-9.
Women in Business will receive $5,932.27. Chemistry Club will receive $2,675; Design Club will receive $1,100; Sports Management Club will receive $2,870; KUST will receive $384; Badminton Club will receive $876; and Photography Club will receive $2,657.97. HOLA will receive $11,365.78.
Larger amounts of money were requested to account for increased student participation in clubs and upcoming events.
Abby Kielty can be reached at kiel6046@stthomas.edu.