This week’s agenda included budget proposals for Snack Attacks, the Muslim Student Association’s Iftar celebration, GS student experience survey prizes, and amendments to the GSSC bylaws.

Student Body President Serengeti Timungwa (GS’ 22) began this meeting by thanking GSSC members involved in the GS Gala and hoping the next student council would continue this tradition.

Timungwa also reminded the GS student body members to vote on Latin Diplomas by Thursday, April 21. She emphasized that this is a historic vote about a topic that has been debated for decades, so every GS student’s vote matters on this issue.

Timungwa then handed the floor over to Cole Wagner (GS’ 22) of the Campus Life Committee. Wagner talked about the GS run held last week, said that the event went well, and thanked all members of GSSC involved. Also, the link for the subsidized Metrocards goes live this week, so any students interested must sign up soon.

GSSC is also sponsoring a free thrift shop, a farmers market, and student performances for Earth Day on Friday, April 22, from 11 am to 1 pm. Spending for this event was much more than was foreseen, and spending from GSSC did not exceed $2,000. There is also a spring picnic on Lewison Lawn on April 29 that GSSC will put on.

There was also a proposal to increase funding for survey prizes. This will double the number of winners for the survey that GSSC recently put out. The proposal is to allocate an additional $500 worth of funding for the survey. This survey is meant to collect data on the GS student experience. This will give a specific direction for the Policy Committee next year to know what to advocate for concerning the needs and desires of the GS student body. The current deadline for the survey is May 1. This motion passed.

Next, there was a budget proposal for Snack Attacks. The budget currently set for Snack Attacks will be insufficient to cover food for both weeks of finals. The proposal is to allocate $5,500 to Snack Attacks. This motion passed. Then the Muslim Student Association presented a GSSC cosponsorship proposal. The proposal is for GSSC to cosponsor Iftar for Ramadan. This will include halal food, and the proposal is for GSSC to provide $1,000. This will be voted on in executive session.

Finally, Vice President of Policy Nasser Odetallah (GS’ 25) proposed amendments to the bylaws of the GSSC constitution. The first amendment regarded the impeachment of GSSC members. The proposed amendment makes it so all members of GSSC can be impeached, whereas previously, it was implied that only elected officials could be impeached. This amendment passed.

The second amendment allows any member of GSSC to start the process of impeachment. This amendment passed. Also, a third proposed amendment barred the member being impeached from voting in impeachment inquiries. This motion passed. The following amendment proposed changed the vote to start the impeachment process to a simple majority. This amendment passed.

Further, GSSC members are currently barred from abstaining in the impeachment proceeding. The next proposed amendment allows members to abstain if given special permission. However, this amendment was changed, as it was felt that abstention should be allowed in all votes, including impeachment proceedings. This later motion passed.

Also, a new section on punishment due to impeachment was proposed. Currently, punishments only include expulsion from GSSC. However, there are other avenues for punishment that do not involve outright expulsion from GSSC, including the removal of voting rights. Moreover, it was proposed to change the word punishment to penalty or discipline. Some suggested that this would allow prolonged discussion and stagnation of the impeachment proceedings. Notwithstanding, this motion passed.

Finally, Odetallah proposed removing the section about removing associates. However, associates may be removed at any time, so they do not need to be mentioned in the impeachments section. This motion passed.

GSSC banner via Ava Morouse