By Courtney Walsh, Staff Writer
On Tuesday, Oct. 5, the Student Government (SGA) meeting was nearly brought to a standstill when a group of three freshmen approached the senate with a proposal to legitimize their club Hofstra Versus Zombies. The freshman; Alexander Breen, George Demarest, and Gage Siegel, were inspired by the game Humans Versus Zombies invented by Brad Sappinton and Chris Weed of Goucher College in 2005. Since then the game has spread via the Internet and Humans Versus Zombies is now played in over 200 colleges and universities across the country.
The number of new club applications that SGA has been receiving has been extraordinarily high. This increase is due in part to the commencement of the fall semester. Clubs can exist on campus independently but in order to receive school funding and to be recognized as an official Hofstra University school student run clubs must be voted in or passed by the SGA senate. Clubs that have been passed recently range from UNICEF an internationally recognized non-profit organization headed by the United Nations to the Nerf Gun club.
Senate members hesitated to approve the new club on the grounds that the club was too silly and without purpose.
"I feel that they should speak to another club and run it as an event instead," said one senator.
The University does not regulate which clubs are passed or what criteria they need to meet. Instead, the decision is placed on the SGA and its Rules Committee, who votes clubs in based on their purpose, budget requirements and membership interest. The University currently has 10 club categories; academic, fraternity & sorority life, media, multicultural, performance, pre-professional, religious, social, social political, and sports.
"To deny this club on the basis of it not being a serious club would be uncalled for," said another senator. "I for one know that GW (George Washington University) has a people-watching club, and I feel that we here think of clubs as needing a purpose either academically or otherwise, and that's not always the case."
Other senators saw the club as an opportunity to promote school wide unity and spirit.
"If you've never seen a zombie movie, people fighting zombies bond like no other," said one senator.
Finally the senate voted, passing the Hofstra Versus Zombies 35-2.
"A club can be started for a variety of reasons, whether for a philanthropy or a belief, or simply good clean fun, and obviously this falls under the good clean fun category," said SGA President James Wells.
Two other clubs were passed by the SGA Tuesday evening; the Cricket Club, and Hofstra Students for Fashion Reform. SGA also reactivated one club Hofstra Men's Club Golf.
The rest of Tuesday's meeting went smoothly. Three delegates were voted in:Jenna Coene, Melanie Perry and Gary Duff, capping the senate.
A programming board ad-hoc committee was created with a vote of 28 for and 0 against with 1 abstention. President James Wells and Vice President Luke Miedreich will ne co-chairing the committee.
Spirit Chairwoman Victoria Vullo and Senator Liz Weeden brought a proposal to extend Hofstra Fitness Center's hours on Sunday from 7:50 p.m. to 10:50 p.m., and Student Services Chairwoman Cait Scungio is in the process of providing dining evaluations for all of the dining locations on campus.
With the numerous clubs being pushed at the SGA recently, the appropriations committee has been working late. The committee, headed by Appropriations Chair Jordan Baer, allocated $2,839.85 from last weeks meeting. This semester, the committee has already allocated $10,960.85 to clubs and organizations on campus. There have been several changes to appropriations this year, such as forms being accessible via Hofstra portal, and workshops to illustrate how a club or organization can use these forms to its best advantage. The first workshop will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 20 during common hour. These workshops are mandatory to all new clubs but older clubs and organizations are encouraged to attend.
(Courtney Walsh/The Chronicle)