On March 6, the Student Government Organization (SGO) met to discuss agenda items for the spring semester.
The meeting began with a recap of SGO’s vote last week to approve a new First-Generation and Low-Income (FLI) Council budget. 23 voted in favor and three voted against, with one abstaining. The vote occurred because requests exceeding 3% of the Student Budgeting Committee’s (SBC) budget through the Student Activities Fund (SAF) require SGO approval.
Internal Affairs Chair Darby Creegan ’26 proceeded to debrief on goals for the semester, notably including plans to meet with Director of Dining Services Linda McDougall to explore the potential of expanding the number of locations that accept Swat Points. The committee is also planning to track articles mentioning SGO published by The Phoenix and Voices.
SGO Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee Clara Ximena ’26 shared that she was working on a “FLI-SBC amendment.” She said that the amendment would “secure a portion of the SAF for FLI Council and the FLI community.” Ximena also spoke on her efforts to establish guaranteed percentage budgeting for affinity groups through the InterCenter, especially to cover costs incurred through recurring events, such as Ramadan.
Lastly, Creegan proposed the idea of engaging student groups by having them come and speak to SGO about their concerns and needs during Friday meetings. After some discussion about whether to communicate with student groups through email or in person, the SGO decided that it would be best to have clubs individually decide whether they want to come in.
“Go to your clubs, tell them that SGO is open to having these dialogues but can’t really do anything if we can’t find trends,” SGO President Olivia Medeiros-Sakimoto ’25 concluded.
Kenn I love you