The executive committee has issued the following report for the October 31, 2023 Assembly Meeting:
Executive Updates:
President Meera Herle and Vice President Bipasha Ray will be meeting with the Chair of the Faculty Senate at the end of October. If you have any topics you would like them to bring up, please reach out. Bipasha is also compiling a common agenda for the Well-Being Collective, which is a Provost-sponsored initiative with a focus on policy areas in student wellness.
Upcoming Events: Take Your Professor to Lunch, Operation Graduation, Hydration Stations, Halloween Goes Green, Parent’s Weekend Event (11/3), iClicker & Calculator Drive (November 1st-8th), Subsidized Headshots (11/14-11/17), Renters’ Rights & City Planning Workshop (11/16, 7-9pm, Kuenzel), Sustainability Town Hall, Chill Out (Winter Wellbeing, 11/30, the Diag)
Programs and Events:
Operation Graduation Program
The Programming team has been working with gown distributors to finalize the details of Operation Graduation distribution, for which we received interest from more than 180 students. Students have the opportunity to receive free graduation gowns, which will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. This year, the Programming team will be distributing gowns in sustainable packages! The contract with Barnes and Noble is being finalized this week–they are giving us a 15% discount, and we will be able to cover the costs for 60 Bachelors and 20 Masters gowns!
Renter's Rights and City Planning Workshop - Thursday, November 16th from 7:00-9:00pm
CSG will be collaborating with the Urban Planning Student Association on a Renters Rights and City Planning Workshop. This will take place on Thursday, November 16th from 7-9pm in the Kuenzel Room of the Union. At this event, there will be polling exercises to send to the Ann Arbor City Planning Committee and information outreach tabling with the Renters Commission and GEO’s Housing Caucus on renter’s rights.
Headshot Program - 11/14 - 11/17
Chief of Staff Juliette Quenioux and her intern Shane Baum are running a reiteration of the subsidized headshot program. Information and sign-ups will be going up on the ACE, with slots in the third week of November. These will be first come, first serve, and will take place on both Central and North Campuses.
Take Your Professor to Lunch Program
Programming Board member Hailey Hartz is running a reiteration of our Take Your Professor to Lunch program, which provides vouchers for free lunch. We were able to cover the cost of 35 groups of up to four students and at least one professor or GSI. Distribution will be ending this week, with a feedback form going out at the end of the week.
Halloween Goes Green
Sustainability Policy Advisor Sayoni Bandyopadhyay is working with LSA SG on “Halloween Goes Green”, a costume recycling program that aims to reduce clothing waste by recirculating Halloween costumes. They are currently collecting donations–there are bins in the CSG and LSA SG offices.
Parent's Weekend Event - Friday, November 3rd
Meera and Bipasha are planning a Parent’s Weekend event with Student Life on November 3rd. This event aims to celebrate our student leaders on campus with their parents, with an additional focus on advertising and collecting optional donations towards CSG’s two scholarships, the Leadership Engagement Scholarship and the Disability Empowerment and Advocacy Scholarship.
Event for Native American Heritage Month
Policy Advisor for DEIJ Nneka Obiekwu is planning an event with the Native American Student Association for Native American Heritage Month. This event is in the planning stages, but will tentatively include a forum for student leaders to speak with faculty and administration, and a land acknowledgment signing. Nneka has connected with MESA and the Native American Student Association about this, as well as looking into how we can support their upcoming initiatives.
Sustainability Town Hall - Wednesday, November 15th from 5:30-7:30pm
Policy Advisor for Sustainability Sayoni Bandyopadhyay is planning a Sustainability Town Hall to connect administrators with students on topics including sustainable finance, facilities, operations, Campus Plan 2050, and carbon neutrality. neutrality. This will be taking place on Wednesday, November 15th from 5:30-7:30 in the Kuenzel contingent on the schedules of administrators.
Recycling Programs - November 1st-8th
Policy Advisor for Affordability and Accessibility Emily Ryan is running our recycling programs for calculators, test prep books, iClickers, and graduation gowns. A drive for calculators and iClickers is scheduled for November 1st through the 8th. Collection bins will be placed in the CSG office, the Ugli, and various apartment buildings. Outreach has additionally been done to the professional fraternities on campus, specifically for test prep materials for our textbook shelf.
"Chill Out": winter-themed well-being day - Thursday, November 30th
The Programming team is conducting initial outreach for “Chill Out”, a Winter-themed well-being day taking on Thursday, November 30th on the Diag. The goal for this event is to advertise wellness resources and well-being student groups on campus and encourage taking time for self-care as finals come up.
Hydration Stations
Chief Programming Officer Terra Lafreniere, alongside Fraternity & Sorority Life (FSL) leadership, is bringing back Hydration Stations! CSG is covering the cost of 100 cases of water bottles to be distributed throughout the Fall football games, and FSL volunteers will be staffing the stations. The programming team is additionally conducting research on sustainable alternatives to water bottles for future iterations of this program.
Policy Team:
Policy Advisor on DEIJ Nneka Obiekwu is in the initial stages of planning outreach toward student organizations concerning the University’s rollout of their new DEI 2.0 Plan.
Policy Director Gwen Tatara is meeting with Beyond the Diag this week, which is a UM program developed to provide off-campus resources to students. Gwen will be working with them to refresh their off-campus housing guide.
Policy Director Gwen Tatara, along with Meera and Bipasha, have met with the Princeton Review and are finalizing details of a partnership. This will enable students to receive subsidized materials, free consultations, and two free events each semester targeted at pre-professional students. Additionally, they have upcoming meetings scheduled with Kaplan and Seven Sages to review their offerings.
SMPSEC is working with various organizations on campus to see how CSG can support education about contraceptive use and accessibility, as well as conducting research on the possibility of a vending machine that includes wellness materials.
Policy Advisor on Mental Health and Wellbeing Aditi Vijendra is conducting research on the possibility of a well-being equipment check-out program. She has been connecting with Big 10 schools to see how similar programs have been implemented.
Policy Advisor on Mental Health and Wellbeing Aditi Vijendra also met with administrators last week as a student voice on the Student Health Insurance Committee.
Director of Government Relations Akhila Mullapudi is working on a Dinners for Democracy initiative with Turn Up Turnout (TUT) on affordable housing policy.
Director of Internal Relations Peter Tam is working on setting dates and working out logistical details for the reiteration of our subsidized headshot program, which offers free, professional headshots to students on both North and Central campuses.
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).