The Student Government Association set aside $5,000 in funding for five unrecognized organizations at the weekly meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 20.
The money will fund one-time events for the organizations who wanted to apply for SGA recognition this year but could not because the Organization Recognition and Review Board revised the recognition criteria. SGA will grant funding to the Audio Engineering Society, Bee Enthusiasts at Emerson, Ultimate Frisbee, Full Fathom Productions, and Hidden Lantern.
“We thought it would be best to provide those organizations that would have been eligible under last year’s [ORRB] criteria the opportunity to receive a portion of funding,” Executive Treasurer Ian Mandt said.
The organizations meet last year’s ORRB criteria, and each requested between $250 and $1,000.
SGA also discussed its final preparations for the upcoming Academic Town Hall on Nov. 27 from 2-3:35 p.m. in the Bill Bordy Theatre. The Town Hall offers students and faculty a chance to discuss their academic concerns in a mediated environment.
Executive Vice President Raz Moayed and journalism professor Tim Riley hosted the event, and members of the Campus Life staff moderated and took notes.
“It’s really just to show students that faculty’s on our side and to show faculty that students are on their side,” Moayed said. “Everything’s better when we’re working together.”
Associate Vice President for Information Technology Brian Basgen came to the meeting to discuss technological concerns ranging from the college’s technological improvements over the summer to the IT mistake that caused some mayhem during registration.
Basgen said the number of students affected by hacks significantly decreased since the college started using Duo two-factor authentication on its services in April 2018.
“Not only does the bad guy have to steal your password, but they also somehow have to get into your personal phone,” Basgen said.
The college underestimated the number of people using phone verification and ran out of telephone credits that allow students to verify themselves via phone call on the morning of Nov. 20. The college purchased 250,000 more credits, but 16 users could not access their accounts for 15 minutes.
This incident marked the first time the college ran out of credits since implementing Duo, according to the Director of IT Infrastructure Francis Frain. Basgen said the college should not run out again this year.
