The United Student Government (USG) met in the third floor Lawrence Hall ballroom on Monday to discuss budgeting for its operations and clubs.

Treasurer Kourteney Lampel presented the internal budget of USG on a spreadsheet, noting how various amounts of the $12,060 budget were to be spent for upkeep, such as the $4,000 needed for member stipend and $3,500 on the bike program that USG funds.

She then explained that USG has a $15,540 budget that will be allocated to 20 student clubs and organizations that submitted appeals for access to the budget. The heads of a number of clubs attended the meeting to hear information on the allocation. The voting on which appeals will be approved will take place next Monday, Feb. 4.

One club, previously known as “Good Luck Have Fun” (GLHF) also had its leaders attend as USG voted on allowing the club’s name to change to Wood Street Zombies Esports (WSZE). The Esports Club had recently spoken with members of the Rules Committee to enact the change before the meeting, planning to completely rebrand their club.

When the item approached on the agenda, the USG quickly agreed to the name change – resulting in sounds of joy from the club’s members in the audience.

New senatorial nominations were also discussed, as four nominees had attended the meeting. They were summoned to the center of the meeting and introduced themselves.

Among those nominated were freshman advertising and public relations major Emily Sjoberg, sophomore broadcast production major Cole D’Alicandro, sophomore special education major Jade Steele and freshman cinema production major Julius Thomas.

These candidates were chosen for how they would best represent different schools and organizations that make up campus. The selection process attempted to recruit a diverse array of students that would apply their unique views to allow for discussions and decisions to appeal to the concerns of a larger range of the student public (WPPJ members, sports team members, commuters etc.).

Shortly after they were introduced, the four were sworn in as full members of USG.

The Communications Committee has reported success with their drafted media posts that were discussed at the last legislative body meeting to increase activity on their social media accounts on Instagram and Twitter. They also unveiled new designs for hot cards to advertise information about USG in key public spaces around campus.

To further improve their outreach with the public, Parliamentarian Matthew Spadaccia presented a proposal to adjust the treasurer position. The proposal included increasing accessibility for club leaders by allowing them to easily meet with the treasurer in the SAIL office.

He also stated how adjusting the bylaws with how treasurers are appointed would allow for greater versatility and harder work from treasurers. Spadaccia claims the proposal would not make the qualifications for treasurer higher, but would be adjusted only “to get the right people in the position.”

USG also made attempts to improve internal communications by instituting Slack, a team-messaging service that many clubs and organizations are beginning to use for its ability to provide a business-oriented hub for communication and idea-sharing.

Further discussions on information shared at legislative body meetings, student concerns and rule consultation now have their own easily accessible message boards online.

On the topic of rule consultations, a clothing debacle unfolded when Senator Jacob Berlin pointed out that President Kaylee Kearns was wearing business casual attire during the meeting, as she had just attended another meeting before the legislative body meeting, and was not abiding by the Constitution’s bylaws dealing with the dress code.

President Pro-Tempore and Executive CAB and Legislative Liaison Megan Ortego defended Kearns by stating that the issue would be discussed privately to avoid stopping the meeting’s procession and “making President Kearns uncomfortable.”

Spadaccia stepped into the argument by consulting the dress code bylaws, stating that Berlin was wearing dark denim jeans that also did not abide by the dress code. Berlin refuted by standing on his chair and presenting his pants to the legislative body and the audience, explaining that the darkness of his denim would make his pants appear to not be jeans.

When the argument was diffused, no violations or reprimands were handed out to either of the dress code violators.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated Megan Ortego’s title was incorrectly written as “ex-CAB and legislative body liaison.” Ortego’s actual position, aside from being president pro-tempore, is executive CAB and legislative liaison.