Engineering Student Government convened late Wednesday night in Central Student Government Chambers to discuss plans for the upcoming semester, including whether engineering students benefit from the $10 fee paid by every student at the University of Michigan, which funds CSG.
The meeting began with a conversation over funding for Chez Betty, a 24/7 food co-op for students in computer science and engineering, which ESG has funded in the past.
New business for ESG included a possible revision this semester regarding the regulation adoption process. The proposed changes would allow the resolution to come first and then become an accepted task to work on, as opposed to a bill being debated and worked on simultaneously.
The body’s constitution and bylaws are up for revision this semester as well. A possible revision up for review would stagger the semesters during which elections of executive board members take place. Currently, elections for president, vice president, treasurer and secretary occur simultaneously.
Members brought up the concern of 4 to 6 percent of student voices needed to make constitution and bylaw revisions and whether that would be possible, in light of low turnouts in the past.
A debate about engineering students funding CSG defined the meeting, with members debating if engineering students see enough of the money they put toward CSG.
Despite initiatives funded by CSG benefiting engineering students — including more bus routes that go to and from North Campus and longer hours at the Bursley dining hall on game days — Secretary Breanna Decocker, an Engineering junior, felt that freshman, not engineering students, were benefitting from these measures.
“I don’t understand how the majority of that has to do with engineers,” she said.
Regarding engineering students pulling funding from CSG, President Rebekah Andrews, an Engineering senior, said the defunding was not likely, but could change if Rackham Student Government decides to do the same.
“In the future, (it) could be up in the air,” Andrews said. “It’s just more powerful to throw our weight around with Rackham.”
Vice President Anavir Shermon, an Engineering senior, said ESG will look for other ways to create change rather than completely pulling out engineering student funding.
“I feel like we’re definitely more in favor of a proactive collaborative collaboration whereby we talk to (CSG) first, see what their opinions are, see whether our needs are being met and move from there,” Sherman said.
Ashman brought up the small number of resolutions put forth by the engineering students on CSG, saying they were more to blame for the lack of policy supporting engineering students, not CSG as a whole. She noted while she wanted action from the engineering students on CSG, her expectations remain low.
“Honestly, I would be happy with something so low bar — let’s have an event on North Campus or two events,” Andrews said. “That would be mind-blowing.”
This upcoming semester, ESG is planning to sponsor a speaker series with possible topics centered around religion and gender.