• Marquette Student Government unanimously approved Student Organization Allocations in period four for student organizations and period two for club sports during Thursday night's meeting.
• MUSG also passed legislation that will attempt to ensure computer software and application compatibility across academic buildings on campus.
• The meeting also featured a presentation concerning the university's current environmental sustainability status, which also included sustainability plans for the future.

The Marquette Student Government Senate unanimously approved the Student Organizations Allocations Committee's appropriations for student groups during Thursday night's meeting.

The Senate voted to approve allocations over $1,500 in period four for non-club sports student organizations and period two for club sports – the last period of the school year for club sports to be considered for allocations.

SOA money, made up of the total Student Activity Fee amount from students' tuition, is distributed by MUSG to select clubs and organizations throughout the year. Thursday's vote applies to events taking place between Nov. 24, 2008 and May 3, 2009.

MARDI GRAS, an organization that takes its 70 members to New Orleans over winter break to help rehabilitate the community hit by Hurricane Katrina, received the most funding from MUSG—$4,472.

Senator Thaddeus McGuire, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and SOA committee member, said the organization's commitment to the Jesuit ideals of community service and helping others in need, as well as its large number of student members, contributed to the substantial allocation.

The men's Lacrosse team received $3,973.48—the most money allocated to a club sport. SOA committee member Paige Jorgensen, a junior in the College of Communication, said the allocated funding was based primarily on the mere expense of the sport, and will be used for both lodging and registration fees for tournaments.

Hockey and men's Rugby were the two club sports allocated the second and third largest amounts of funding at $3,450 and $3,400, respectively. The funding for these sports will go toward their conference registration and referee fees, Jorgensen said.

The meeting also included the passage of a resolution entitled, "Consistent Availability of Computer Applications Across Campus," written by senators Jorgensen and David Brinker, a senior in the College of Communication.

The resolution is an attempt to ensure computer software and application compatibility across academic buildings, specifically dealing with the discrepancies between Adobe Creative Suite 2 and CS3 on computers throughout campus, Jorgensen said.

"We hope this legislation will be used as a springboard to increase consistency across buildings," Jorgensen said. "It's a first step in talking to administrators and (Information Technology Services) to ensure that we have technology with consistency."

But the Senate did not pass the legislation unanimously. Senator Joseph Schuster, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, was one of two senators who opposed the resolution.

The resolution lacked both research and communication with IT Services, and it was specifically geared toward students in the College of Communication, Schuster said.

The meeting also featured a presentation on university sustainability by Mike Whittow, assistant to the vice president in the Office of Administration.

Whittow said the university is continuing to push a campus-wide recycling venture. He said this venture will implement "one stop" recycling bins where paper, glass and plastic can all be placed in the same container.

Whittow also said the university is looking into emerging technologies, being proactive in creating university-wide awareness, planting only native Wisconsin trees and increasing the number of bike racks on campus.

"We've had a massive explosion this fall of bikes on campus. It's a great, great thing," Whittow said. "The new bike racks will need to be in places where students and staff will use them. We have a lot of staff that ride their bikes to work every day."

According to Whittow, the Sustainable Endowment Institute recently gave Marquette a C+ grade in terms of sustainability.

"It's OK to be average, but we are not satisfied, and we hope to improve every year," Whittow said.