Amid a discussion of allocating funds to Music Matters at the Central Student Government meeting Tuesday, CSG President Cooper announced that the Student Organization Funding Commission has depleted its funding for the semester, a month before it ends.
The body also brought six resolutions to the floor at the meeting and was introduced to the tool that will allow students to access past course evaluation data.
In speaking to SOFC, Charlton said it should receive more funding because it is in a state of emergency, despite a budget increase of more than 5 percent over last semester, and because there are enough funds in CSG’s budget to meet the increasing requests from student organizations who have taken advantage of their online applications. CSG Treasurer Kevin Ziegler wrote in an e-mail interview that SOFC received $220,000 this semester.
“We go back and forth about how much money we give SOFC,” Charlton said Tuesday. “I’m usually on the opposites side of this argument. But in this specific case, I think this is something that as an assembly we need to do. We need to give SOFC this money. I really encourage the assembly to pass the resolution.”
Originally one resolution to allocate funds both to Music Matters for its 2016 Springfest event and to SOFC, the proposal was ultimately divided into two separate pieces of legislation, one pertaining to each group. Both passed independently.
During the meeting, CSG officials said Music Matters approached the assembly instead of SOFC for funding, which resulted in a miscommunication over how the funding would be distributed.
Additionally, a resolution to support the improvement of the Counseling and Psychological Services website was also passed, in response to complaints from students about making appointments.
One of the new resolution presented to CSG would support a University of Michigan Mental Health Day, planned by LSA Student Government, which would take place on Oct. 10. The initiative requested CSG co-sponsor the event, which would be held on both Central Campus and North Campus for the entire day.
LSA freshman Nicholas Meyer, co-author of the resolution, said the purpose of the event was to promote awareness of mental health resources.
“We created it with the idea of spreading awareness about the mental health resources on campus,” he said. “CAPS is great, but not enough people know about the resources it has. Not enough people know about the depression center, and very few people know about the great work that Active Minds, the Student Mental Health Leadership Coalition, and the 20 other groups that we have on board right now, do on campus. Our goal is to advertise that.”
The event would consist of a day in the Diag with tables set up to spread awareness of the resources that the different organizations and campus administrators have to offer, as well as a similar setup on North Campus and an evening event surrounding CAPS at the Town Hall. The resolution will be voted on at next Tuesday’s meeting.
Additionally, the body also discussed a resolution to appoint a member to appoint a member of CSG to the CAPS Student Activities Board.
Other resolutions brought to the floor for future consideration and discussion included a call for mandatory midterm teaching feedback evaluations so professors can not only receive summative feedback at the end of the semester, but also in the middle of the term, as well as one to mandate identity training for CSG. Another resolution would support the Maize and Blue Cupboard by helping them with their last food distribution of the year, in which they offer free food to students with food insecurity or those who lack the means to make it to a drugstore.
Guest Speaker
Physics Prof. Gus Evrard presented the University’s Academic Reporting Tool, ART 2.0, which students and faculty will be able to use to access course feedback data from the last five years.
“How many of you have been to Koofers or Rate My Professor?” he asked the assembly. “These guys claim that they have ratings that don’t suck, but where do they get them? You know — you give ratings. And now we’re going to start getting them back to you.”
Students will be able to see when courses are offered, student enrollment data and statistics regarding students who take the class, including their major, school and other classes they take before, while and after the course.