So far this year, Abbie Moravec and Tommy Treacy, president and executive vice president of Marquette University Student Government, have been able to create the sustainability committee they vowed to make during their campaign, and also fill the student senate.
“I feel like this year is going well so far. We’re getting a lot done that we want to get done. We had a lot of attainable goals and we’ve been able to get the resources for those things,” Moravec said.
Moravec and Treacy were elected last March, and as part of their campaign they wanted to fill MUSG vacancies and improve the communication between administration with MUSG, as well as with student organizations. The basis of their campaign, however, follows three main pillars: social justice, health and wellness and sustainability.
Communication with student organizations
In order to improve communication with student organizations and to help them understand how funding through MUSG works, Treacy said they’ve been able to assist student organizations by sending out emails and training members on how to submit applications for funding. He said this includes helping them understand what they can and cannot ask for funding for.
When it comes to funding, Treacy said they’ve been successful in providing funds to student organizations and distributing the budget fairly.
“I don’t think we’ve turned down a single request for funding yet this year, unless they had something fundamentally wrong with their application,” Treacy said.
Social Justice
For the social justice section of their campaign, Moravec and Treacy promised to fully fund multicultural groups on campus.
Yazeed Abushanab, a junior in the College of Health Sciences and president of the Muslim Student Association, said that Moravec and Treacy have done a lot to help them with events.
“We’ve had all good things with the program, (MUSG) especially with helping us out on events. As we gear for a few big programs, we have received help with that,” Abushanab said.
Health and wellness
As part of the health and wellness section of their campaign, the two hope to provide safe sex resources, contraceptives, feminine products on campus and resources for women’s reproductive health.
Moravec said MUSG has brought the concern of providing free menstrual products to Rick Arcuri, vice president for student affairs, and the initiative is in the works.
“One thing I do want to accomplish by the end of this year is being able to direct students to those resources in an easier way. I feel like campus doesn’t give any information on that kind of stuff,” Moravec said.
One idea Moravec suggested was being able to provide some sort of training on understanding safe sex and contraception during student orientation.
Sustainability
For the final category, sustainability, Moravec said a sustainability committee has just been approved and put into their constitution. She said the committee chair has just been hired as a paid MUSG position.
“Right now I think they [the committee] are focused a lot on community outreach events. They want to let people know that there is this new opportunity that they can join,” Treacy said.
In addition to their main goals, Treacy said they’re also working on created group counseling opportunities and broadening living learning communities on campus.
Moravec and Treacy suggest that if students want to share anything with MUSG, they can either speak on the open senate floor on Monday evenings or visit one of them during their office hours which are posted on the MUSG website.
As for having a full senate this year, Moravec said she hopes this lends itself to more outreach and student engagement across the university.
Treacy said they already have student senators creating their own town hall meetings and organizing outreach events which he hopes to see continue.
“Now that we have a full board, full resources and all the committees, everyone can be be working at their full potential,” Moravec said.
This story was written by Sophia Tiedge. She can be reached at [email protected]
