On Nov. 11, the University of Maine Student Government granted two clubs for preliminary recognition, and committee chair positions were filled.

Club Maintenance:

The University of Maine’s Computing Club spoke at Tuesday’s meeting seeking preliminary recognition. The club focuses mainly on projects they work on, such as web development and machine learning. They also help students interested in computing determine what fields they want to enter once they graduate. The Computing Club currently has 15-20 active members but is willing to grow their numbers to 60. The vote to grant the club preliminary recognition passed unanimously.

The Accounting Club also spoke at Tuesday’s meeting in the hope of being granted preliminary recognition. The Accounting Club is associated with the Maine Business School, but they are open to non-accounting majors joining the club. The club allows students to learn more about internships, networking and job opportunities. The vote to grant this club preliminary recognition passed unanimously.

UMSG has encouraged clubs to present their usage of the student activity money with members of UMSG on Tuesday evenings. The Society of Women Engineers took advantage of this opportunity and presented photos and shared insight on their conference trip with members. UMSG encourages more presentations from clubs in the future.

Guest Speaker:

Director of Residence Life Shane Smith spoke as UMSG’s guest speaker. Smith came to discuss the mission of resident life, simply to make the experience of those living on campus the best experience possible. Residence Life is eager to work with UMSG to facilitate residence hall event planning and to work together to get students excited about upcoming events. Anything to do with hosting events or renting the quad is dealt with through residence life. Residence Life is also collecting RA applications for the upcoming school year. For more information or any questions, contact Shane Smith at shane.p.smith@maine.edu. 

New Business:

Camden Olson, the chair of the Fair Elections Practices Commission (FEPC), has revised the FEPC guidelines for clarity. These guidelines were reviewed and read over with members of UMSG. It was also brought to the attention of UMSG that FEPC is considering making the singular election day five days for the next election. This spread-out election will encourage more student participation in the voting process since there will be more flexibility in when they can vote.

Committee Affairs Chair Election:

At the end of the meeting, members of UMSG were asked to nominate members for three chair positions in Committee Affairs. The three positions filled in the election were Food and Dining Affairs, Mental Health Affairs, and Multicultural Advisory Affairs.