Student Government failed to reach quorum for the sixth time in a row.  

Mark Hudson, Eastern’s director of Housing and Dining, gave a presentation during the student senate meeting Wednesday.  

Hudson, who came on behalf of the Bond Revenue Committee, presented information on the costs of housing and the raising of room and board rates.  

Housing is an auxiliary enterprise which means that the Housing department does not get funding from the state and that the housing department cannot dip into tuition fee, according to Hudson.  

Housing has a $23 million budget for the 2023 fiscal year , which mostly comes from the student room and board rates.  

Fiscal year 2023 included wrapping up renovations to Wi-Fi services in multiple residence halls and updates to the lobbies of some residence halls.  

Fiscal Year 2024 will result in starting to draw up a South Quad master plan which includes redoing the bathrooms in South Quad residence halls to create the semi-private bathrooms, updating the drapes for the halls and purchasing new mattresses for residence halls.  

One of the ways that the bond revenue committee will maximize student dollars is by consolidating the dining centers in South Quad, which will save $175,000. That leftover budget will help purchase convention cooking units to create more dining options for the one dining center in the South Quad.  

The bond revenue committee recommends that the micro fridge program remains on standby, meaning that the residence halls in the Triad and in Pemberton Hall will have the micro fridges continued in their buildings, but the South Quad buildings and Stevenson, Powell-Norton and Lincoln halls will not have micro fridges in their rooms.  

Housing costs for the 2023-2024 school year range from $4,948 to $6,755 per semester, which totals between $9,896 to $13,510 per year, which includes costs for both room and dining.  

The total increase in room and board cost for the 2024 fiscal year is 5%.  

Final votes have not been determined and will be determined by the President’s council. 

Which South Quad dining hall will be consolidated has not been determined. That space may be used as a study space or a walk through between the residence halls.  

 With the consolidated dining center in South Quad, that residence hall will be open from 7:15 a.m. to 1 a.m. This will start in the fall or the 2024 fiscal year .  

Uplifting Athletes, an impending Registered Student Organization, RSO, presented at the meeting as well. Uplifting Athletes aims to use their power as athletes and the power of sports to raise money for rare disease research. The idea of bringing it to Eastern, is to bring the community closer together.  

The goal as well is to bring all of Eastern’s athletics teams together. By doing this, there can be more ways to fundraise for those that are struggling with rare diseases.  

Non-athletes can be involved by attending events sponsored by the organization.  

Club Hockey, another impending RSO, presented at the meeting as well. The purpose of the organization is to grow hockey as a game in hockey in Charleston while getting the following back up from when the club previously existed from 2012-2016 due to dwindling numbers of the team in 2016.  

The organization hopes to get 20 men on the team, while also hoping to get into the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA). The club is open to everyone, regardless of ability level, despite the invitation only aspect when it comes to playing ice hockey.  

The senate has also not met quorum for the sixth time in a row, despite nominating Madison Veatch, a freshman political science major, to the senate. With that, Club Hockey, Uplifting Athletes as well as a number of impending student organizations could not be approved or are still waiting to be approved by the senate. 

Katja Benz can be reached at 581-2812 or at kkbenz@eiu.edu.