ASCMC Weekly Beat: Exec Board and Senate

Staff writer and Forum beat reporter Shannon Miller '16 covers this week's ASCMC Executive Board and Senate meetings.  On Sunday evening, the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College (ASCMC) Executive Board met to discuss the events of the past week and those coming up, as well as the status of some of the Board's long-term projects. In particular, the Board addressed these topics:

• Online voting for ASCMC elections: Campus Organizations Chair Aseem Chipalkatti '15 demonstrated an online voting system, Electionbuddy, to use in future student elections at CMC in order to streamline and fortify the voting process. Chipalkatti noted the service is secure and reasonably priced, and will be tested again with the whole student body at some point in the future.  In the future, this system would allow students to elect their ASCMC representatives, such as their class president, through the internet.

• New council meetings: The first meetings of the Venture Council, Arts Council, and Public Engagement Committee took place this week. The Arts Council is planning events and activities to spread participation and awareness for artistic endeavors at CMC; the Venture Council is in the process of securing funding from the Kravis Leadership Institute (KLI) and the Robert Day School of Economics (RDS); and the Public Engagement Committee met to discuss ways to increase ASCMC's transparency on campus.

• Homecoming: CMC's Homecoming is this Saturday, November 3. There will be a number of celebratory events throughout the day in conjunction with the CMS athletic event. The Board also discussed the possibility of holding a Homecoming Court.

Following the Executive Board's meeting, the Student Senate convened Monday night. The Senate meeting primarily covered the following:

• Alice Chang '15 Presentation: Sophomore Alice Chang received partial funding from ASCMC to attend the World Energy Forum in Dubai, a conference which took place October 22-24. Chang described the conference's aims, which included developing and promoting sources of renewable energy worldwide, and her experiences meeting with world leaders who were in attendance.

• Funding requests: The Senate discussed and voted on two funding requests from CMC students, one of which it granted. The Senate approved a request from Claremont Hillel to help fund an event, held cooperatively with the Queer Resources Center (QRC), to bring the Jewish and gender-neutral author S. Bear Bergman to speak on campus. As the event is open to all 5Cs, ASCMC will match the maximum funding provided for the event by any of the other 4Cs, not exceeding $500.

The ASCMC Executive Board meets Sunday nights at 7:00 p.m. in Kravis 321; CMC students are welcome to attend the meetings as guests. Student Senate meets Monday nights at 9:30 p.m. in Bauer Forum.