Welcome back and Happy New Year! I hope that all of you had a restful and rejuvenating break, and I wish you the very best luck in this new year.
This new semester marks the beginning of the budget season for the Union. The second se–mester is historically the semester in which the Union, as well as the rest of the Institute, goes through the budget process. The difference this year is that the Union E-board has worked hard to set a rigorous schedule to accelerate our budget timeline, to better conform with the Institute’s, and to inform the Student Senate with more timely information for review of the activity fee.
Members of the Union’s Executive Board will be working hard over the next few weeks reviewing budget requests and determining the Union’s budget for fiscal year 2002-2003. This budget encom–passes everything that the Union is responsible for such as clubs, athletics, the Games Room, Father’s, Mother’s, the Bookstore, the Clubhouse Pub, the Speakers Series, and the list goes on and on. How does this effect you? We are planning for and fiscally accounting for all of the co-curricular opportunities that are available for you students on this campus. We work closely with the Union’s clubs and organizations as well as its services to ensure that the Union is able to offer 130 clubs and organizations in addition to everything that is available within the building itself.
On a different note, you may remember that last semester, many of you took advantage of the Union’s extended hours during exam time. Towards the end of last semester, the E-board made a decision to keep the Union open 24 hours during the spring semester. This was based upon the large amount of feedback we received all semester, especially through that Senate’s feedback initiative. It is our hope that the extension of these hours will fulfill the growing need on our campus for a general gathering space for all students during all hours, day and night. We are currently in the process of finalizing night staff to keep the building open, and expect that the true “24 hours” will be in effect soon. Please note that this semester will serve as a “test” period. We believe that there is a great need based upon your input, but if we find that there is indeed no need or use for this, we will revisit the validity of this idea.
If you have noticed a large box in the Union, that is covered with a large red cloth and wondered what it was, you should know. As of last year, the Union introduced a new club, the Aquarium club. This group has been long awaiting the construction of a new unit to house their amazing 350-gallon salt-water tank. After a lot of hard work and engineering, both the cabinet and the tank have been fabricated. Although we do not have anything inside the tank yet, this new club will be working over the next semester and the next year to create an amazing underwater habitat in the front lobby of the Union. We will be sure to keep the campus informed and invite you for a visit once the tank is truly running!
