The Undergraduate Council of Students approved the first Category S student group to cheers and applause at their general body meeting Wednesday night.
The Brown branch of Nourish International, a nonprofit organization that partners with nongovernmental organizations abroad on sustainable development projects was initially denied student categorization because its funds are spent on off-campus activities. It is now officially the first group under the new S categorization, which allows Nourish to take advantage of structural services within the Student Activities Office such as free copying and an SAO mail box. Nourish was approved by the general UCS board with no discussion or dissent.
The student group Yoga and Mindfulness moved up from Category II to Category III and Capoeira, an Afrobrazilian martial arts club, moved from Category I to Category II at the meeting.
The UCS communications committee announced that the Brown student body would be receiving UCS's final yearly agenda in their mailboxes today. At the top of the agenda are UCS's response to the Organizational Review Committee, the University's identification of budget cut strategies and The New England Association of Schools and Colleges' final report commenting on Brown's status as a university-college.
Melea Atkins '10, UCS Corporation liaison, reported on the Corporation's latest meeting. Among other things, the Corporation approved the plan to build the new swim center and discussed the main budget approval that will occur in February, Atkins said.
Student Activities Chair Brady Wyrtzen '11 announced that the student activities fee will be finalized at next week's meeting. UCS members will discuss the size of the charge and send a final suggestion to the University Resources Committee. The URC will make a formal recommendation to the Corporation, which will ultimately set the new fee.
UCS President Clay Wertheimer '10 closed the meeting with a discussion of plans to create an endowment for student activities. Wertheimer said the goal is to jump-start the endowment by raising $100,000 by the end of this year and eventually building the endowment to $16 million. That figure would allow the University to fund student activities solely through the endowment and to eliminate the student activities fee portion of tuition.
Wertheimer also said that a presentation on the Providence tax on students by Director of State and Community Relations Albert Dahlberg and Vice President of Public Affairs and University Relations Marisa Quinn, which was scheduled for last night's meeting, is rescheduled for Nov. 4.
