Student Government held its twelfth and final virtual meeting of the semester on Nov. 18. They voted on the Lambda Kappa Sigma fund request, Presence contract renewal, members and clubs of the month and semester, as well as discussing bringing a speaker to campus in the spring. 

To begin the meeting, LKS members Phoebe Vo and Victoria Ireland returned to Student Government for a second presentation for their first aid fund request. 

LKS is a professional fraternity whose five core values (leadership, service, integrity, scholarship and sisterhood) guide them in their events. For their first aid event, they plan to help local Junior Girl Scout troops earn their first aid badge.

The event is set to be held over Zoom. All supplies will be placed into gift bags and given to troop leaders to be distributed to scouts. In total, the fund request came to $637.98, which was approved and allocated to LKS.

Next, Presence representative A.J. Guedouar was welcomed to Student Government to discuss the Presence contract renewal. 

Guedouar broke Presence down to its basic components. Presence, used to gauge campus engagement, is a company Wilkes University has been partnered with since 2016. With the renewal of the contract, clubs could be required to use the program to understand who was coming to their events, how to cater to less engaged students and to ensure money was well spent. 

It was also discussed that the cost would be pitched to other organizations around campus that utilize Presence to split the total cost of $10,000. This motion was passed for Student Government to move forward with the Presence contract renewal. 

At the beginning of July, the Student Government Executive Board released a statement to ensure that the Black Lives Matter conversation continued. Regarding that promise, it was presented that speaker Baratunde Thurston will hold a Zoom conference next semester for students. 

Classes broke out into discussion and came back agreeing that it would be a great idea, but it would be important to advertise the event. Student Government voted to move forward with holding a Zoom conference with Thurston, which was approved by a majority of members.

The council then voted on member and club of the month, along with member and club of the semester. 

For member of the month, John Toussaint, Mia Rubino and Megan Makovsky were nominated. In a close race, Makovsky, the sophomore class’ secretary, won. For club of the month, with no opposition, the chemistry club won.

Also, Elena Pastestos, the senior class president, won member of the semester, and Wilkes University Democrats won club of the semester.

In closing, Student Government said goodbye to member and the President of Programming Board DeAndre DePass, as he completed his final term with the council and board.