Sustainability was the word of the day for the Temple Student Government General Assembly meeting Monday, Oct. 21 in Room 200C of the student center.

Ivy Lane, assistant director of the Temple Fund, was the guest speaker discussing the senior class gift. After talking with university officials to see what would work on campus, Lane announced that this year’s class gift will be “two or possibly three” water refilling stations.

Lane said that they wanted to build on to the university’s efforts to further campus sustainability. The refilling stations are expected to further the lifespan of water bottles, therefore cutting down on the amount needed.

Lane asked each senior to donate $10.14 individually, making the total cost of the gift around $6,000. Seniors can donate at the Web site address giving.temple.edu/SeniorClassGift.

The locations of the stations have not been finalized but Lane said they will possibly be on Liacouras Walk and near the Bell Tower.

Lane added the class gift is being brought back to prominence like it was 40 years ago. This could potentially help the university’s national ranking as alumni participation plays into this, she said.

Melvin Hudson, TSG director of grounds and sustainability, also spoke on the topic of sustainability. He announced that this will be “Sustainability Week,” a series of events for students with a focus on green friendly practices.

Evan Feinstein, TSG director of university pride and traditions, then announced the winners of the clubs competition during last week’s Cherry and White Night. The Chinese Students and Scholars Association were congratulated on their win by standing for recognition.

After the Open Forum and Organization Announcements, the meeting came to a close. The next TSG meeting will be Oct. 28 in the same room at 4 p.m.

Marcus McCarthy is the TSG beat writer for The Temple News. He can be reached at marcus.mccarthy@temple.edu or follow on Twitter @Marcus.McCarthy6

Business was short for this week’s Temple Student Government General Assembly meeting in room 200c of the Student Center on Monday. With no guest speakers, the meeting was mostly updates by members of TSG.

Starting with Darin Bartholomew, Temple’s student body president, the class gift for this year was announced as water bottle refilling stations. Donations for this gift will be accepted Friday at the inauguration celebrations.

Sonia Galiber, vice president of external affairs, thanked those involved with Sunday’s zombie run and Morgan Jenkins, director of local and community affairs, spoke about an upcoming event.

Avenue of the Treats, a Halloween event hosted by CSS for children, will be held Oct. 31 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Progress Plaza near the intersection of Broad and West Oxford streets.

Evan Feinstein, director of pride and traditions, discussed the Cherry and White Games to be held on Friday. This event will set student organizations in competition with the winner receiving a plaque.

Following that was the Open Forum where Bartholomew inquired as to concerns from students who were affected by yesterday’s lockdown on Willington Street. Bartholomew, who said he was neighbors with the student, told The Temple News he is looking in to ways to better the university’s response.

Organization announcements were last on the agenda before the meeting ended a few minutes earlier than usual.

The next TSG GA meeting will be Oct. 21 also in room 200c of the student center at 4 p.m.

Marcus McCarthy is the TSG beat writer for The Temple News. He can be reached at marcus.mccarthy@temple.edu or follow on Twitter @Marcus.McCarthy6

The new Speaker of the General Assembly, DeVaun Brown, opened up the Temple Student Government General Assembly meeting in room 200c of the student center Monday to an audience of roughly 200 people.

Joe Oleksak was announced as the new Auditor General, the other previously open TSG office.  

Darin Bartholomew, Temple’s student body president, was first to speak with the president’s report. He introduced Brown and Oleksak and explained that TSG is pursuing a solution to the long lines at the food court in Morgan Hall.

The first guest speaker, Sakinah Muhammad from Teach for America, spoke next. She explained how the program sets up college graduates as teachers to help with low-income students’ educations, and how students can apply.

Homecoming was the next topic with the candidates for king and queen describing themselves and why they should be elected.

Isaiah Gaymon, Kristian Pel, Kwashee Totimeh and Dan Busko spoke about their candidacies for Homecoming king. For queen, Tiffany Dean, Megan Fry, Joie’ Johnson-Walker, and Tasia Morgan stated their cases as well.

Voting for these titles is still open on Owl Connect via the Student Activities webpage. The Homecoming Pageant will be Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in room 200 of the student center.

A few of the TSG directors then spoke individually on various events occurring soon. The Zombie Run will be on Oct. 13 and registration for the event is still available.

Evan Feinstein, director of University Pride and Traditions, announced that Cherry and White Championships will be held on Oct. 18 during Cherry and White Night.

For the open forum, Bartholomew asked the audience, which consisted mostly of students, what event they would like to see in the spring to replace the cancelled Spring Fling. The conversation mostly focused on a childhood throwback themed showcase of some student organizations.

The organization announcements were last before the meeting came to an end.

The next TSG General Assembly meeting will be held Oct. 14 at 4 p.m. in room 200c of the student center.

Andrew McGinley, manager of Public Affairs and Policy, was the guest speaker at the Sept. 30 TSG general assembly meeting in the student center. In front of an audience of roughly 200, McGinley announced expansions to the Owl Academy program.

Last year, the Owl Academy went to the state capitol in Harrisburg to lobby for university funding.

Now, the Owl Academy will be extended to include experiences in talking to more officials. Monthly sessions with Temple officials and planned meeting times with elected officials are to be created this year with in order to allow Temple students networking opportunities.

This is also aimed at fostering a stronger voice for university funding among state policy makers.

“We’ll lay the groundwork for a great relationship with Harrisburg,” McGinley said.

According to McGinley, they will be posting their information via the TSG social media accounts.

Morgan Jenkins, director of local and community affairs for TSG spoke next. She thanked the people who showed up for Adopt a Block, a series of community service events, on Saturday.

Then Sonia Galiber, vice president of external affairs, spoke about the upcoming Zombie Run on Oct. 13.

Ray Smeriglio, director of communications, spoke last. He exhibited the new TSG website which now includes a directory of staff, complete explanation of the platform and a contact page for clubs allocations.

The open forum and organization announcements were held before the meeting ended.

The open hours for the TSG Office were announced as 12-6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 12- 4 p.m. on Fridays.

The chosen candidates for Speaker of the General Assembly and Auditor General will be announced for the next meeting on Oct. 7.

The advancement of the Good Neighbor Policy was the main topic of discussion for the TSG General Body meeting held on Sep. 23 in the student center.

The new advertising slogans of the policy were displayed to an audience of about 200 by Kate Schaeffer, a program coordinator at HEART and Andrea Seiss, senior associate dean of students.

The duo was speaking in place of the scheduled Andrea Swan, director of Community and Neighborhood Affairs, who wasn’t able to attend the meeting.

“Respect the block” and “taking neighborly to the next level” are the new slogans for the policy. Student Activities will also form a backing committee focused on encouraging student interaction with the local community.

“We’re definitely a block by block campus,” Schaeffer said.

Schaeffer said the committee will include one member from TSG and expressed interest in collaboration with any student organizations participating in community service.

Ray Smeriglio, TSG director of communications spoke next at the meeting about a new program called Hoot Squad which will soon begin holding meetings.

“It’s an organization dedicated to connecting you students to alumni,” he said.

The director announcements were next then the open forum. For the first time, the organization announcements had some of the groups’ information already in the PowerPoint presentation. As announced last week, organizations can email TSG ahead of time to guaranteed being able to speak.

The deadline of applications for Speaker of the General Assembly has been extended to Friday.

Due to time constraints, most of the organization announcements not emailed in ahead of time were cut off with the meeting ending.