WRECK Racing
The UHR and GSS both voted upon and passed a bill to allocate more funds to WRECK Racing. After allocating $7,645.65 last week to the organization as a replacement annual budget, WRECK Racing received another $9,146.63 to “provide tools that will benefit WRECK Racing,” according to the bill which was submitted by ME Rep. Priya Patel.
According to Brian Sohacki, President of WRECK Racing, the allocation is necessary to equip the cars for new competitions and continued success.
“We will have increased heat loads, stress and endurance testing on our cars for increased competitiveness,” Sohacki said. “Because of these increased factors, we can apply more of the engineering principles that we have learned to our cars and competition.”
During discussion of the bill, several questions were asked of the WRECK Racing representatives regarding the necessity of a new camera and tripod, for which the bill allocated a total of $539.99 and $53.27, respectively.
“Camera and video capability are necessary to document the performance of the cars, so [WRECK Racing] can go back and analyze the cars, so we can see whether or not the tires are slipping and other things that need improving,” Sohacki said.
Sohacki said that 30 new members attended the most recent meeting, and he estimates that 20 will remain long-term.
“That will bring current membership to 47 members,” said Michael D’Abete, WRECK Racing Treasurer. “Each of these members is paying dues and contributing to the team.”
D’Abete and Sohacki both assured representatives that the dues were appropriately high at $40, after a question was asked about plans to raise the amount of dues paid by members.
“We also have several sponsorships from outside sources, including a $5,000 sponsorship from GM that are helping to keep us racing,” Sohacki said.
Woodruff Infestation
Student concerns were raised during Open Forum about a recent discovery of ants in Woodruff Dining Hall. A student, who declined to comment, recorded a 24-second video of ants that were found in the serving area of Woodruff Dining Hall. The video was recorded and posted onto YouTube on Sept. 5. The student claims to have had issues in the past with the dining hall, including a lack of communication with Woodruff staff.
“This is in front of the stir fry station which is right next to the dessert bar area,” said both the scrolling text at the bottom of the video and the video description. “There are [100s] of ants crawling around right next to food.”
Student representatives told fellow representatives to reach out to students in order to communicate this and similar issues. Students were encouraged to contact their representatives about such issues, as well as other campus offices.
“Please tell students to contact us. Let me know because we can’t do anything if we don’t know anything about it,” said Rosalind Meyers, Vice President of Campus Services. “I promise you that I will look into it and will get back to you. I realize that sometimes this kind of thing escapes our notice. We depend on students to alert us to this kind of thing.”
Residents of Woodruff are still concerned about the infestation, however.
“It’s hard to live in our rooms sometimes, knowing about [the ants],” said Ariana Daftarian, a second-year BCHM major. “I’m worried about them getting into my food, my stuff and my bed.
Block Seating
Undergraduate Student Body President Elle Creel reported on the difficulties with block seating that many students had during the first football game of the season on Thursday, Sept. 1. Several student blocks either did not have Buzzcard access or were faced with other difficulties in receiving access to the game or their respective seats.
Creel said that during the Open Forum portion of the next UHR meeting, the floor will open up for student opinion regarding the future of block seating allocation system practices. Students that were affected are encouraged to attend in order to address some of the issues that arose during the first game.
“I want to hear what the rest of the students think, if they have any ideas or comments about the system,” Creel said.
Creel also assured students that they would not be penalized in any way for the mistakes that were made.
“The results in the first game block allocation system will not apply to next year’s allocation,” Creel said.
SGA will publicize its opinion about the allocation system before the following game.