Allegheny Student Government’s third meeting of the module brought about three new clubs and proposed a new initiative in collaboration with the Culture Identity Leadership Coalition.

With no guest speakers, ASG’s general assembly commenced with cabinet reports at 7:34 p.m. Tuesday, March 17, via Zoom.

Chief of Staff Emma Godel, ’21, started off her report by reinforcing the importance of voting in the ASG election.

“Please keep it up,” Godel said. “Turnout is important and this election, unfortunately, can’t last forever, voting will end at some point.”

Attorney General Jack Parker, ’21, then commenced his report by introducing the co-President of the All Gender Equity Society, Ollie Sandrey, ’22 who talked briefly about AGES.

“Our goal is to create a community where trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming individuals can have a safe space,” Sandrey said.

President of the Class of 2024 Kristen Cadham, raised the motion to approve AGES and was seconded by Senator Andi Reiser, ’23. The motion passed unanimously.

 Parker then introduced the President of the Billiards Club Sean Sweeney, ’23. 

“Currently we have a pool league going and it’s the largest it’s ever been,” Sweeney said. “We are facing a problem where we only have access to one pool table, so one of our goals is to get access to one or two more tables.”

Cadham raised the motion to approve the Billiards Club and was seconded by President of the Class of 2023 Lucas Biniewski. The motion passed unanimously.

Parker followed by introducing the President of the Chess Club Noor Buchi, ’22.

“We plan on making a chess club to help new students who are interested in chess learn about it and also offer a place for students who already know how to play chess to compete and work together,” Buchi said.

Cadham raised the motion to approve the Chess Club and was seconded by Biniewski. The motion passed unanimously.

Parker then introduced the President of the Esports Club Jacob Walter, ’21. 

“We want to organize the people on campus who want to compete for Allegheny in esports, it’s kind of like an up- and-coming thing,” Walter said. “We’ve had a lot of support from students and even professors.”

Parker reinforced his support for the Esports Club.

“This seems like a great opportunity to really diversify Allegheny’s clubs, (esports) is something that most colleges at this point have,” Parker said.

Cadham raised the motion to approve the Esports Club and was seconded by Senator Kyrie Doniz, ’23. The motion passed unanimously.

Parker continued his report by praising voter turnout in the ASG election. 

“Voter turnout on the first day was very impressive, the exact number (of voters as of Tuesday) was 332, which is great,” Parker said.

Parker stated that it is estimated that election results will be published tentatively on Friday, March 19.

Director of Communications and Press Bree Gray, ’23, then followed with her report by talking about ASG’s collaboration with the Allegheny College Health Agency for a donation box for quarantined students.

“On the third floor of the Campus Center in the student life suite there is a ginormous box that says donations for quarantined students,” Gray said.

Co-Directors of Students Affairs Crystal Hernandez, ’23, and Gena Pena, ’22, followed with their report. Pena commented on her work regarding the distribution of feminine products on campus. She reinstated the availability of machines on campus that distribute feminine products.

“I have been meeting with other club presidents about the machines since a lot of people do not know what they are,” Pena said.

Pena then talked about her meetings with other schools to discuss the availability and distribution of feminine products.

“The biggest meeting I have had is with the University of Pennsylvania who stated in 2019 their plans to provide feminine products to their campus, it was interesting to hear about their process (of distributing feminine products),” Pena said.

Director of Sustainability and Environmental Affairs Willy Walker, ’22, commenced his report by thanking everyone — especially volunteers — for a successful Green Box Week.

Walker then announced that he is still looking for the holder of ticket number 816558 to pick up their sustainability care package before Sunday, March 21.

Walker revealed the approval of finances for the Beehive Project. The project will look to cultivate honey from bees kept on campus. The bees and other related equipment have been bought and the project will begin in the near future.

“A timetable from the logistics of the bees is that, at the minimum, we should be getting some honey in the Spring of 2022,” Walker said.

Walker then talked about his initiative to replace water fountains on campus with bottle refilling stations. He mentioned that fountains that need repairs will be replaced with bottle refilling stations while other fountains that are in more active regions of the campus will be replaced regardless. 

In the new business, President Abdikadir Lugundi, ’21, and Director of Finances Noah Tart, ’22, introduced the CILC initiative.

Tart explained that the initiative aimed to recognise CILC as a student government on campus before thoroughly going over the initiative’s legislation. 

The legislation stated that CILC will be recognized as a student government on campus with its own executive board consisting of a president, vice president, treasurer and secretary among other positions. The seventeen clubs that currently operate under CILC will continue to do so and will retain their autonomy. CILC will also be in constant collaboration with ASG, as executive board members and cabinet members from both organizations will meet regularly. CILC elections will be held annually before ASG elections to allow potential candidates an equal opportunity to run for both student governments. CILC will also elect two permanent members that will be approved by the ASG, who will act in the role of representatives of CILC in the ASG cabinet. The legislation will become effective in Fall 2021.

Lugundi and Tart reinforced the importance of this new initiative and recognized the role CILC organizations play on campus.

“CILC organizations are really responsible for much of the culture on campus,” Lugundi said. “Being a CILC president myself, I noticed there was a gap between the CILC organizations and the ASG, so this is an invitation to share the power.”

Tart commented on the existence of social problems on campus.

“There are a lot of band-aid solutions to problems but there hasn’t been something that is truly cemented to solve these problems, by no means is this legislation perfect but it is a seed,” Tart said.

The new legislation aims to begin the conversation of equality and representation on campus and is a means to share the power between the different groups on campus.

The meeting adjourned at 8:50 pm.