The Student Federation approved $4,000 for clubs in their meeting on Thursday, as well as awarded the Citizens for Self-Governance Club initial club status.
The College Republicans requested $3,000 to pay for a portion of the bus travel for the group’s trip to the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Although the cost for each student to attend is $180, the entirety of the trip costs $16,000. The College Republicans covered the majority of this price because of fundraising.
The federation approved the full amount of $3,000.
“This funding is critical to the execution of our trip, so it wasn’t just important for College Republicans, but to the rest of the student body who are attending CPAC,” acting president Rachel Umaña said.
This is a smaller request than College Republicans has asked from Student Federation in recent years.
“This was all due to the astute efforts of our board to fundraise, but also the streamlining of processes,” Umaña said.
The federation also approved a grant of $1,000 to the Hillsdale Hepcats for its annual soiree, an evening of swing dancing featuring James Dapogny, jazz artist and University of Michigan professor, and his 10-piece jazz band. The total cost for the event is about $2,500, and the club had requested $1,500 from the federation. The federation advised the club to offer presale tickets in addition to tickets at the door.
The Student Federation also gave initial club status to the new club, Citizens for Self-Governance, meaning the club will have a non-disciplinary probation period of one semester. The club will be headed by co-presidents juniors Lucy Meckler and Weston Boardman. It is the first chapter of the parent organization by the same name and is a grassroots political movement focusing on passing amendments to the Constitution to fix what they believe to be a bloated government.
Meckler was particularly excited about the federation’s decision.
“It was a moment of joy,” Meckler said. “Hillsdale College is the first campus to have a club for Citizens for Self-Governance. It was exhilarating and nerve-racking, but we’re so excited to see what happens.”
