The executive committee has issued the following report for the March 19, 2024 Assembly Meeting:
Notices to the Assembly:
Thank you to everyone who volunteered to table with SMPSEC and the Women’s Network at their “Don’t Leave it Up to Luck” event on Thursday! We also had very successful high-risk programming for St. Patrick’s Day with the help of the Center for Campus Involvement and FSL–we had three tables throughout last Saturday with water and other safety resources.
President Meera Herle and Vice President Bipasha Ray are traveling to Washington, D.C. with the Association of Big Ten Students (ABTS) this coming Saturday (3/23) through next Tuesday (3/26). While in D.C., Meera and Bipasha will be meeting with student government counterparts from across the Big Ten and with legislators from the state of Michigan.
Intern to the President Allison Tate has created a Compiled Alumni Networking Sheet to increase networking opportunities and accessibility. Please fill out the Google sheet (by graduating class year at the bottom)!
Upcoming Events: Operation Graduation (Last day: 3/20), Plastic Bag Drive (Week of 3/18), Women’s Leadership Luncheon (Pendleton Rm., 4/1), Adaptive Sports Awareness Event (The Diag, 3/24), Big 10 on the Hill (3/24-3/26), Take Back the Night (4/3), Denim Day Painting (4/5), Healing Honestly Book Talk (4/9)
See a quick summary of all the great initiatives our team will be working on this year here!
Communications Activities:
Requests are open for CSG’s bi-weekly newsletter. Please direct those requests to this form and inquiries to our Director of Communications Andrew Ky. This month’s newsletter will be sent out on March 22.
The Communications team is working on a new video segment, the first of which will be “13 Questions with Student General Counsel Tyler Watt!” The next segment of CSG Chats will also be going up this week, on campus safety and medical amnesty. Keep an eye out!
The Communications team has created a wonderful branding guide as part of their initiative to develop a framework for communications activities. Check it out here! Otherwise, for any graphics requests, please fill out this form.
Programs and Events:
Policy Advisor for Affordability and Accessibility Emily Ryan is working with the Director of Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services (SAAS) in an upcoming event on Sunday, March 24 in the Diag at 2:00 pm. Come play boccia and goalball and learn about the adaptive sports program! They are also connecting with SAAS’s Accessibility research coordinator to use existing data to write a policy report on the program’s current needs.
Meera and Bipasha, the Programming Board, and Policy Advisor for DEIJ Nneka Obiekwu are planning a Women’s Leadership Luncheon. This event will focus on appreciating female student leaders' work on campus, and we hope to incorporate a networking aspect with University leaders who are women. A Women’s History Month student spotlight will also be posted soon!
Operation Graduation is finishing up tomorrow! We were able to give 249 students a gown this semester, up from 80 last semester.
SMPSEC is putting on an early Denim Day event, which is focused on sexual assault awareness. We are working with art and performance groups on campus and will be showcasing resources and activities such as a communal art piece. This will be taking place on April 5 in the Diag.
Our SMPSEC team is collaborating with SAPAC on a book talk about the novel Healing Honestly (which is by a Michigan alumnus) on April 9th from 6:30-9:00 pm.
Policy Team:
Our SMPSEC team also has been working very closely with SAPAC to advocate for the addition of SMPSE resources in syllabi. They are also cosponsoring and collaborating for Take Back the Night on April 3, which is an annual event that focuses on LGBTQ+ activism and experiences.
Our Treasury team is meeting with Snackpass, Lineleap, Office Max, and Staples representatives soon to discuss potential UM student discounts. They are following back up with LinkedIn following their meeting recently. Updates to follow soon!
Vice President Bipasha Ray’s High-Risk Planning (HRP) Student Sub-Committee met with stakeholders in FSL to push for further access to nightcaps and test strips in strategic areas to promote and normalize personal safety right before the break. They attended IFC & Panhel leadership meetings last week to plan for the creation of a nightcap pilot program. They are meeting with Brown Jug and Blue Leprechaun this week to discuss the program’s logistics. Members of the HRP group are also working with a marketing company that has offered to help pro bono with the creation of a marketing plan for this project.
Emily’s intern, Katie Rose, is also working on the Accessibility portion of CSG’s Resource Guide as well as the University’s financial resources document, updating resources and reformatting it to make it more digestible for students.
Policy Advisor on Mental Health and Wellness Aditi Vijendra is researching two current CSG initiatives. The first is looking into strategies to boost engagement with our Calm app program, and the second is a comprehensive report for SMPSEC on the new wellness vending machine put into the Union in January.
Policy Advisor on Sustainability Brandon Cooper is working with MDining and the Humane Society to advocate for increasing vegan and vegetarian dining hall options to 55% or more. Brandon will also be serving as the CSG representative on the food advisory committee for sustainable food on campus. He met with Keith Soster, MDining’s Director of Student Engagement to discuss food insecurity on campus as well as set a goal of having 67% sustainable food options. He has also connected with SCANN, the Student Carbon Neutrality Network on creating an orientation education model for sustainability.
Brandon is also in the process of getting donation boxes stationed in front of university buildings with high foot traffic for an upcoming plastic bag drive. There will be boxes in the Union, Pierpont, Maize and Blue Cupboard, and Winter Garden in Ross, and he is in contact with residence halls as well. More updates soon!
Policy Director Gwen Tatara is working with Beyond the Diag to refresh their off-campus housing guide. BTD is a U-M program developed to provide resources to students living off campus. She’s going through the responses to her housing survey, as well as comparing it with data from last year and using this to create graphic analysis and Landlord Report Cards. A draft of this housing guide introduction has been completed to send to the BTD Program Manager, Mark Simmonds. She also had a meeting with Rayne Wolfe from RHA on Thursday to discuss student laundry finances and advocate for affordability considering external costs such as detergent.
The Government Relations and Policy teams are creating one-pagers on the congressional RISE Act and Farm Bill to inform our upcoming lobbying efforts during Big 10 on the Hill, which will be taking place from March 24th through March 26th. Director of Government Relations Akhila Mullapudi is also working with representatives from Dearborn and Flint student governments to investigate tri-campus transportation.
If you have any questions or would like to meet with the President or Vice President, please contact Chief of
Staff to the President Juliette Quenioux (julietq@umich.edu)