CHRISTINA PAPINI ’18 AND YI LIN CHEN ’16 PRESENT on the current plans of the 125th Anniversary of the Union gala celebrationOn Thursday, October 8, the Executive Board meeting began with an appeal by two members of the 125th Anniversary committee. Vice Chairman Christina Papini ’18 and committee member Yi Lin Chen ’16 started off their presentation with an explanation of the purpose of their committee-planning events for this anniversary celebration before delving into their request, which was the reallocation of funds. The 125th Anniversary Gala will be a formal, sit-down dinner event on November 14, where Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson and her cabinet members will be in attendance.
The committee members are estimating a seat count of 280, and the tickets’ prices will be between five and 10 dollars. The seating, besides that of Jackson and her cabinet members, will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. Following the dinner, there will be a free light show displayed on the front of the Rensselaer Union, with an area to view in the Horseshoe. After that activity, there will be dancing in the McNeil Room, which is also free and open to all students. This gala will be the main event in celebration of the 125th Anniversary. Before, the event had been designed to be an event with a more carnival-like atmosphere. The board members were not willing to give an official motion and vote until the committee had gotten a quote from Sodexo, who will be catering the event. The ticket revenue, explained by the committee members, would not be going into the committee treasury, but solely go towards the catering. The board members were not inclined to this idea, as students already pay a fee to the Union for activities such as these. The committee members were instructed to get an official quote before reappealing. It was also mentioned that the board members would be more inclined to reallocate the funds if the event was free.
Student Government Communications committee, a committee joint between the senate and the E-Board, was represented by Jen Church, a graduate student, during the committee of the week presentation. She urged the members to go online and write a brief summary of their committee’s purpose, and introduced the idea of redesigning the student government website. Her ideas ran along the vein of a more interactive, infographic presentation method. She went on to mention that Senate was thinking about doing a town hall-like meeting and were planning to do it before the Summer Arch forum. She voiced her opinion of having the E-Board present and involved in that project. No official motions were made, and the discussion forum was open and brief.
The last official business on the agenda was club baseball. Stephen Munisteri ’18, president of the club, came to the E-Board looking to make his club union-recognized. Due to the fact that junior varsity baseball was cut the year before, there were no options for non-varsity students to play baseball. Munisteri states that the club shall be participating in a competitive league, the National Club Baseball Association Division II, and he hopes to have try-outs. He is unsure whether or not the league is strictly male, but he states (as a response to a question) that he would be willing to have women play on his team as long as they met the standards during tryouts. A motion was made to make club baseball a Union-recognized organization and it was passed with a 13-0-0 vote. Munisteri has have to come back to the E-Board to appeal for club funding.
Reports and reminders were made to the E-Board members and the meeting was adjourned. The E-Board meets every Thursday at 8 pm in the Shellnut Gallery on the third floor of the Union.