This edition of Council Clippings covers the UHR and GSS meetings from Feb.26, 2008.
Bill of the Week: Road Trip With a Reason
PASSED: Joint allocation to Campus Christian Fellowship (CCF), requesting $8,209 to cover transportation costs for Road Trip With a Reason, a service project to raise awareness of conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo; amended to $8,141 per JFC recommendation (passed GSS 13-7-1; passed UHR 32-3-0)
CCF requested joint funding for the organization’s upcoming service project, Road Trip With A Reason. The goal of the project is to raise awareness of the ongoing brutality occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo .
The bill listed 17 cities in neighboring states and indicated that approximately 26 people would travel to each location. The projects are organized around a series of service projects simultaneously held in a variety of cities around the southeast, yet no projects in Georgia. The service projects will center around some form of park or nature clean up or maintenance, such as beach and boardwalk cleanup in Jacksonville.
There was a lot of concern and questioning over the practicality and overall connection between the service projects and raising awareness in Africa. In response, the organization explained that they would be wearing shirts promoting awareness and that the act of volunteering will cause people to ask questions about the cause.
Despite this, there was still opposition to the bill. In the GSS, Senator Mitch Keller passionately opposed the bill. “I can’t support this bill. This is a bill to fund a trip for students to drive around the southeast doing service projects,” said Keller. He went further by stating that there are multiple opportunities to do awareness-raising community service projects in the Atlanta area. Nevertheless, the bill was passed by a vote of 13 in favor, 7 opposed, and 1 abstention, and passed easily in the UHR, with the Joint Finance Committee’s recommendation only adjusting some of the listed mileages between cities according to Rand McNally’s web site.
Guest Speaker: Rich Steele
Rich Steele, Student Center director, spoke to both houses this week to preview and discuss a proposal to renovate Tech Rec’s bowling facilities. Steele plans on introducing a substantial funding bill in the coming weeks asking for $225,000 for all new bowling equipment, which will include new pinsetters, new scorers, and a lane machine. The current equipment, with was last updated in 1996 prior to the Olympics, has become very old and troublesome, with more and more complaints coming in about malfunctions. The industry standard for bowling equipment is around 3000 frames before needing repair; Tech Rec’s averages 500.
Steele also discussed Tech Rec’s declining attendance in recent years and the new renovations as a way to try to rejuvenate the recreation area, saying “We think if we had better [bowling] equipment, we could grow it substantially more.” When asked whether people have asked for new renovations to Tech Rec, Steele responded saying that 54% of Tech students don’t even go to Tech Rec, and that “people feel like the equipment doesn’t work…. We’re trying to overcome a very negative perception,” Steele said. Steele also responded to questions about what other options around campus have decreased Tech Rec’s attendance, mentioned Atlantic Station and other bowling alleys that serve alcohol, but added that this type of information is difficult to determine.
Next Week
Next week the SGA will consider several joint allocation bills: the GT Pre-Dental Society is requesting $2,475.34 for an outreach event at a local shelter; Solar Jackets is requesting $12,242 for fees associated with entering the North American Solar Challenge this summer; Culture Tech is requesting $3,382 for their Food Fair and $3,454 for their Performance Night; and the Women’s Volleyball Club is requesting $1,546 to travel to Dallas for their national tournament. The GSS will also consider the Men’s Volleyball Club bill that was postponed.