ASG Report: 05.12.2009

On May 12, the Associated Student Government (ASG) held their weekly board meeting.  Due to the absence of board members Chapman Cheuk Hei Chung, the marketing and public relations representative, and Dominic Lai Hang Lee, the clubs and programs representative, a formal meeting was not able to be conducted.

While the board members present at last Tuesday’s meeting were not able to officially motion or amend any particular items on the agenda, the meeting still provided the chance for some of the College’s clubs to represent themselves and have their voices heard by the ASG.

One such club was the College’s Art of Living, Yoga and Service Club, whose funding request had been tabled indefinitely in the May 5 meeting. The motion to table the request, which passed unanimously (4-0-0), was due to limitations regarding the club’s plans to take part in a two-week youth service camp called “The International Association of Human Values: Sierra Empowerment Project,” in Reno, Nevada.

During their last meeting with the ASG, the club had asked for $14,000 to send 12 students to the conference. After working further with ASG board member Vicki Waiking Ma, the Vice President of Finance and Communication, as well as others on campus, the club was able to make some much-needed cuts in order to reduce the cost of the trip.

In their new presentation, the Art of Living club showed that they would need just $11,000, compared to the original $14,000 figure. This $3,000 difference was made possible through a variety of small cuts and changes to the club’s original plans, some of which included: reducing advertising costs for the trip from $150 to $25, splicing the food budget for each participant by half from $50 to $25, asking each student/participant to contribute $150 of their own money towards attending the Sierra Empowerment Project, and also reducing the number of students attending. Since the meeting was informal, the board was not able to motion or put forth any decision.

Another item on last Tuesday’s agenda included a proposal for a type of dance that would help to raise money for the College’s Student Safety Fund and Hopelink. The dance would aim to have at least 150 participants, including 25-30 alumni, and has an estimated total cost of $575.00, with most of the money going towards food services costs. The event is scheduled to take place on June 18th.

The meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m.