Feature news release

Last SGA of the semester

The Lyndon campus will be getting a little more radical now that Club Action! Students for Change has become a club recognized by the student government association.

Andrew Glynn came before SGA Wednesday night, explaining that his goal for the new club is to create a "zine", which is a magazine featuring politics, sociology, music, and other topics.

One of the main goals, according to Glynn, is to bring some student radicalism to campus.

"We had a really good sustainability drive this year," said Sigma Zeta representative Joe DiTommaso. "I was wondering if instead of photocopies, could you do it online?"

Glynn's response drew some giggles from the crowd when he replied, "I don't really know what to say to that, so I'm just going to say what's in my head: Us at this college not using as much paper as we could is not going to save any amount of forest."

According to Glynn, the purpose of the club is to create a forum to discuss social and political issues. He stressed that it is not a Democratic or Republican club, and the only stance it would take would be anti-war.

He also added that he believed the reason Students for Global Change failed as a club was because it was "too wishy-washy".

"We're a college. We're all between the ages of 18 and 25. We should have some fire in our hearts about this type of stuff. We want to be controversial. We're students. This is what we're supposed to do," he said.

Despite some worries from the club representatives about sustainability and recycling, Club Action! Students for Change was approved.

The second time was the charm for the Twilight Players, when the SGA voted to give the club $750 toward the $1000 cost of a musical director without much debate.

"We have a list of names of people interested in being the musical director of the show from St. Johnsbury and the community at large," advisor Melissa Leonard said, "but we cannot get them into contract without being able to guarantee the money."

The request for $750 was approved.

Student Investment Group representative Kyle Hessler requested $200 from the SGA to give prizes to the top two investors of the club.

Students involved in the club participate in a virtual stock-exchange game, which is realistic to what the real-world stock market is like.

According to Hessler, the amount requested makes up 0.7% of the overall general fund. Despite the small amount, some representatives were hesitant to give money toward prizes.

"I know that when other clubs give prizes for participating in events like this, the money does come from entry fees and fundraising they've done in the past so I'm a little bit iffy about this," Samantha Couture of AMS said.

Hessler's request for $200 was approved, but club representatives did suggest the Student Investment Group look into buy-ins or dues in order to pay for prizes in the future.

The SGA voted to purchase a Dell Vostro 430 computer for the Student Activities and Leadership Center for $1917.34.

Although another cheaper iMac with a larger screen was an option, the representatives voted for the Dell with the faster processor.

"Aren't you guys proud we had a civil conversation about this?" Tim Cappalli, vice president of SGA asked the representatives, referring to the previous discussion about computers at the last meeting.

Although a request from Outside the Box was made to reallocate $200 from the speaker fund to the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) fund, a representative failed to appear during this week's meeting. Club representatives voted to move on without considering the request.

SGA 11-18-09

The men's rugby team came before the student government association after an incident over Halloween weekend that questioned its status as a club during Wednesday night's meeting.

During a match at Merrimack College, an LSC player received a red card and as a result, ran naked through the audience, according to Stephanie Tyler. This player was later identified as Kyle St. John, the club's treasurer. Chris Arsenault, president of the men's rugby team, addressed the room.

"What this individual did…we are very upset; very apologetic. It's upsetting to us because we've been doing very well. There has been no hazing since we were suspended three years ago," he said. "We told the cop if he needed to arrest him to do it. We just wanted to keep playing."

The club representatives agreed that enough action had been taken by removing the player from the team and as treasurer of the club. A motion to take no action was approved.

The SGA voted to donate $1500 to the Santa Fund charity despite opposition from American Women in Radio and Television representative Suzanne Proulx.

The SGA makes an annual donation typically between $1000 and $1500, according to president Andrew Chapin. The fund is used to assist people in the community during the holiday season.

"I understand it's a nice thing to donate, but with only [roughly] $27,000 in the general fund, we don't know what we're getting for next semester. I know my club might need to request money in the future for things we had to cut out of our budget," Proulx said.

This statement was not received well by Chapin, who urged Proulx not to make decisions based on what she thinks her club might get from the SGA in the future. Other club representatives were enthusiastic about the donation. The request for $1500 for the Santa Fund was approved.

The SGA executive board and the campus activities board joined together to request money for a new computer in their office.

According to Chapin, the computers the office currently houses are old and slow, making the process of creating posters and flyers difficult. The computer the boards are looking at is a 24-inch iMac, complete with the entire Adobe Suite collection. The total cost of these items is $1575.42.

Stephanie Tyler, advisor to SGA, explained that CAB is willing to pay $200 toward the cost of the computer because the club would be using it as well.

The SGA executive board was divided on the issue. Tim Cappalli, vice president of the club, expressed hesitation about maintenance on the iMac. He said that if something malfunctioned, the computer would have to be sent to California in order to be fixed; IT would be unable to do anything. He also explained that it would be about $100 to get a larger screen for the current computer in the office.

Club representatives were divided on the issue, with many opinions about Macintosh computers and PC computers coming forth. There were also concerns that club members would not have the skills to use all the Adobe programs without an informational workshop.

The representatives voted for the executive board to come back with more information and pricing options.

In other business, the Lyndon State Track and Field club was approved. There are currently 21 members, with over half not participating in cross-country. Chris Ummer will be the advisor.

Jorge Chojolan, the director of the Miguel Asturias Academy in Guatemala addressed the SGA through a translator, thanking LSC students for their work at the school. As a gift, he presented LSC with a Guatemalan hammock to place on campus for students to enjoy.

Samantha Wolf and Madeline Champlin presented an ecological management plan for the LSC campus. Their project is being led by Professor Alan Geise.

"The goal is to manage the pond and forest areas better," Champlin said. The class is focusing on four areas of campus: the forest behind President's Hill, the plantation area, the meadow by the Brown House, and the pond in front of the SHAPE center. The plan is to increase biodiversity and ecological integrity of the natural areas on campus. This may include limiting recreation in certain areas at different times throughout the year, according to Champlin.

If I was planning to put my Outing Club article on the web, I would use photos and video to really illustrate what the club does during its activities. The people involved are very active, and I'd want to showcase that through video of them rock-climbing, skiing, and white-water rafting. I'd also interview some of the students involved to hear what they had to say about the club.