ELISHA VALLADARES-CORMIER
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
The Franciscan University Student Government (FUSG) gaveled in the new school year at its first meeting Wednesday.
The first order of business was the financial report, made by Treasurer Danny Butters, at which time he disclosed that the contingency fund had a current balance of $9,780.20.
The meeting then progressed to new business, where Senator Samantha Martinez presented Fall Bill #1, to allocate $500 to the FUS women’s volleyball team to purchase promotional T-shirts for their Dig Pink event later in the week. Representing the volleyball team was head coach Kelly Herrmann. During the debate over the bill, Head Coach Herrmann informed the council that they had received $1,500 in previous years. Senator Stephen Shaw interjected that $1,500 would be 15% of the current budget, and that such an allocation would be unfair to the other clubs the FUSG helps fund. The bill was then passed without amendments.
The next nine bills presented were for the confirmation of cabinet members. They were as follows: Gabe Gessler, Austrian counsel; Conall Hughes, Austrian ambassador; Victoria Schimmer, secretary; Peyton Olszewski, internal auditor; Patrick O’Brien, executive assistant; Katie Irvin, PR liaison; Ben Idzik, chief justice; Autumn Schimmer, justice. After this, President Jack Scanlon asked for the confirmation of two more justices: Jared Schiemer and Andrew Fernandez. All confirmations passed without objection.
At the completion of the confirmations, Student Government Adviser David Schmiesing addressed the group, welcoming them back and saying he looked forward to working with them. President Scanlon then remarked that he and Chief Justice Idzik were collaborating on the special election process for the vacant seats in the council.
Before the adjournment of the meeting, a student in the audience spoke to the council and expressed his feeling that the FUSG ought to restrict itself in its disbursement of funds to strictly the groups under the scope of the council.