A new proposal will be addressed at the student government meeting today.

The proposal is sponsored by Alex Boyd, chair of the student affairs committee, for funds to purchase T-shirts for the Chillin’ for Charity event to take place Nov. 16 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the South Quad.

Chillin’ for Charity is a student government fundraising event for the Mattoon Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS).

Groups of students wanting to represent their Greek house, residence hall, or club affiliation can sign up to be a part of the event where at least one member must be present at all times.

“We will be setting up couches, chairs, lawn chairs, anything you can sit on and basically make a statement for charity,” said Zach Samples, a student senate member. “The bill is for paying for shirts for the event, not the event itself.”

“You can get a team together, whether with a fraternity, hall, or even a group of friends, and just chill and have a good time,” said Kyle Scherle, a student senate member.

The proposal will be discussed at the open forum meeting.

This week’s student government meeting will take place in the Grand Ballroom at the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union instead of its usual meeting place of the Arcola-Tuscola Room.

The student government hosts an open forum meeting once or twice a year.

Student government will go through its procedure as usual, but there will be a large focus on audience participation.

“All of our meetings are open to the public. Anyone can come and speak to us and hear what we have to say and take part in our meetings, but this is one that we sponsor every year that takes place in the (Grand) Ballroom,” said Samples.

Refreshments will be offered to the individuals in attendance.

Holly Henry, a student senate member, had a similar description of the open forum.

“All of our meetings are open to students, but this is our most advertised one,” said Henry. “This is more geared to students coming and seeing who we are and what we are doing while having them feel more comfortable to come and talk to us rather than doing it at one of our meetings in a small room.”

Samples, Henry and Scherle discussed how important the audience is with the open forum meeting.

“We are hoping that the students will come out and basically let them know that we are there for the students,” said Scherle. “If (the students) have any issues, they can talk to us and we can talk to them and really show them what student government is.”

“I’m hoping that there will be a lot of audience participation with hopefully a full audience of students who want to come and hear about what student government is doing or to just talk to us,” said Henry.

Usually information regarding the student government meetings is not posted around campus, but there is more publicity with the open forum.

“The open forum is going to be a little different than our other meetings because it’s a lot more openly publicized and there are signs up all over campus about it, so hopefully people will see them and come out,” Scherle said.

The student government open forum is today in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union in the Grand Ballroom at 7 p.m.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-7942 or rjrodgers@eiu.edu.