USG 3/18 meeting

 Congratulations to Delaney Prentiss, who was elected as the new Press Secretary of USG this week.

Resolutions and Allocations

This week’s budget requests were made by the UNE Hunger Initiative and UNE Volunteers Around the World.

The UNE Hunger Initiative received approval for a Rise Against Hunger event.

• UNE Hunger Initiative provides opportunities for public service and maintains the community gardens that can be found around campus.
• The goal of the event is to prepare 10,000 meals and have them sent to areas that need support.
• To do this the club will work with Rise Against Hunger, a global initiative that aims to create stronger communities by stamping out hunger.
• The resource request from UNE Volunteers Around the World was for a virtual workshop:
• The workshop will allow five students from the club to learn medical techniques from a professional.
• Specifically, they will be learning how to perform a suture. This is the process of stitching up an open wound, a valuable tool to have in your first-aid toolkit.

Student Life

• Students have voiced their concerns over the Commons Dining Hall hours. 
• Students that have lectures lasting late into the evening and athletes with practices after sundown not being able to eat at the dining hall due to the dining hall’s hours. Members of USG are meeting with Parkhurst and they are working to resolve these issues.
•  A change in weekend hours is being discussed, along with considering what different stations may be open on weekends.

• There have also been students reporting Windward being understocked, especially on the weekend. These concerns are being heard and directly addressed.

• The month of Ramadan is going to be celebrated starting April 12th and continuing to May 12th.  Ramadan is celebrated by Muslims to honor the month in which the scriptures which would form the Quran were divinely presented to the prophet Mohammed. The period is marked by fasting during the daylight hours and the holiday is celebrated by members of the student body.
•  The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion council of USG along with the Cultural Council, a group made up of officers from various identity-based clubs, are planning events to celebrate Ramadan. In addition to this, Parkhurst is working to keep the needs of religious students in mind.

• Another one of the top issues for UNE students is parking. In a new effort to incentivize freshmen to come to campus, sans-vehicle, the school is offering credit. This is money that could be used in the bookstore or for eating at the pub and Windward. There is also consideration being made to allow students to use this incentive for ride-sharing services.
• Bikes back on campus are confirmed for next semester. There is still ongoing discussion concerning how many bikes will be placed on campus and what company will be providing the required service.

ULEAD AWARDS

• The ULead awards are presented yearly to students and faculty who went above and beyond as leaders on campus. This week nominations were collected and decisions were made concerning who the winners of these awards would be. Thanks to all who submitted nominations, many voices were heard from when deciding these winners. 
• The winners will be announced  ULead Awards Ceremony on Thursday, April 15, or the Biddeford Campus Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, April 27.