Student Senate Wraps Up Semester with a Final Meeting

PLYMOUTH-Three new student organizations met with Student Senate on Sunday, December 5, at the closing meeting of the Student Senate of the semester.

According to Senate Vice President Laura Ellis,"[The year has] been very successful so far, specifically with creating more of a community among students with the Red Sox events and the fantastic turnout on Election Day...there's always more to do but so far things have been going smoothly."

The three new student organizations submitted their constitutions to the senate for approval. The PSU Democrats, an organization based on being a catalyst for political activity on campus, are known for their tabling during election time, and giving students important information on the democratic candidates. The organization also had Doris "Granny D" Haddock speak on campus, and they also put in time working for the Plymouth Democratic headquarters during election time.

Their activity is not limited to important political events: They also leave their meetings open to the campus for students to discuss political issues and current events. While the group is mainly composed of students who are democrats, the organization welcomes republicans to their meetings in order to get a full scope of views to enhance their learning. The Senate approved the constitution with a few minor stipulations for corrections in their document, and they are now an official student organization.

The Psychology club also presented their constitution and was approved by the senate. It has been roughly five years since the campus has had an active club geared towards psychology. The club currently has 8 members, most of whom are upperclassmen, but they hope to recruit new members and grow as an organization.

They plan on attending conferences in order to gain knowledge on the latest psychiatric studies. They plan to bring information from the conferences back to the community to keep students informed. The psychology club has also had guest speakers attend the school to give psychology majors advice on how to get jobs as well as sharing their own educational experience. They plan to take trips to the Spaulding Hospital as well as to the local jails to learn about different psychiatric wards.

The Electronic Gaming Club was the last student organization to become recognized at the meeting. Their constitution stirred much debate among senate members as the difference between the "Gaming Club" and the "Electronic Gaming Club" was not clear to many. The Electronic Gaming Club is a large group of students who base their gaming activities upon computer games as well as Playstation, Playstation 2, XBOX, and Gamecube. Their interest lie solely in electronic gaming, where as the Gaming Club play role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons.

Their goal as an organization is to bring a sense of community to Plymouth, by encouraging those students, who isolate themselves in order to play video games, to play with other students who share the same interests. They plan to hold a "LAN party" once a semester in the HUB courtroom. All students will be invited to bring their computers and game systems to the courtroom to play games as a group.

The Music Educators National Convention (MENC) was the last organization to request money this semester. The group is composed of music education majors. They plan to attend the Eastern Division Conference for Music Educators in Baltimore, Maryland. The conference is March 3-6 and the group will be able to network with other music educators as well as attend conferences, and learn more about what to expect from future teaching careers. They hope to bring their new knowledge back to the community by speaking with students at the high school and elementary school in Plymouth.

They have been actively fundraising during the semester, their acquired funds total to 843 dollars. The cost of their trip is roughly 6,710 dollars. The senate granted their CEA request of 3, 355 dollars. However, there was a miscalculation of funds in the reserves for student organization and by granting the MENC their money, it put the account at negative 587.63 dollars. The negative balance will have to be compensated from a different account.