Student Senate

Requesting Funds

To receive funds for your organization during the current academic year, you will need to fill out Mid-Year Budgeting survey. Mid-Year Requests can be submitted from the first full senate meeting until the end of the academic year.

Budget Allocations

Here is the Student Senate budget for the current academic year, including all allocations and known expenditures for funded student organizations.

In order for your group to receive money already allocated to you, you will need to submit an RFP (Request for Payment). You can find blank RFPs here (fillable upon download) or outside of the Student Senate Office in the Gustie Den. You must email your RFP to the Student Senate Finance committee at g-gacsenatefinance [at] gustavus.edu (g-gacsenatefinance[at]gustavus[dot]edu) by Wednesday 5 p.m. in order to receive the funds by the following Friday.

1. Fill out info on this RFP document (fillable upon download)
2. Original receipts must be included with the RFP when you turn it in – if it was an online order, include an order confirmation email or print out of order receipt with the RFP
3. Advisor approval is also required – either send your RFP and receipts to your advisor to provide an approval email or take the RFP to your advisor to sign before turning it in
4. RFP, receipts, and advisor approval must be turned into the clear wall cubby outside of the Student Senate office door in the Gustie Den
5. The Finance Committee will turn in RFPs to the Finance Office on Mondays, after which your reimbursements will be processed and sent out to you

To fill out an RFP, you will need the following:

• The name of who is being paid
• A detailed description of what the funds are being used/reimbursed for
• How the payee wants to receive their reimbursement
• The amount
• The name of the student organization requesting funds
• And an advisor signature/approval

Every Monday, we turn in the RFPs we receive to the finance office. They are then in charge of getting your reimbursement back to you, which is usually sent out on that Friday. Checks are either found in your campus P.O. boxes, mailed to the recipient, or are often sent out through direct deposit if the college has that information for student employment.

To receive more funds than what your budget was originally approved for, or if you are a new organization wishing to receive student senate funding, you will need to fill out a Mid-Year Budget Request survey found here. After you submit your request, it must be approved by the finance committee and voted on by Student Senate in order for you to receive your funds.

Student Senate does not fund food for regular meetings or events, with some exceptions. However, Senate will fund food given out at events that are open to the entire campus. For more information on what Student Senate is able to fund, you can look at the by-laws here.

Finance Bylaws contains all the information needed to put together your group’s budget.

These Finance Guidelines are the rules that the Finance Committee follows in order to allocate the Student Government Fee in a fair manner. It is extremely important that your organization read and understand these guidelines.

• Step 1: Go to www.accessnyt.com
• Step 2: Search for and select “Gustavus Adolphus College”. You will be redirected to the NYT registration page.
• Step 3: Click “Create Account” and complete designated fields; you must use your @gustavus.edu email. If you have previously registered your @gustavus.edu email address on the NYT site, click the “Already have an account? Log in here” link.
• Step 4: Verify your account (you will receive a confirmation email). The confirmation email may be routed to your spam folder. You must click the link in this email to complete the registration.

Once registered, faculty/staff have 4 years of full account access, after which they must re-authenticate by visiting accessnyt.com.
Students have access until 12/31 of their graduation year. 

Additional New York Times Resources:

• Archives (9/18/1851 through 12/31/2002) (5 PDF article downloads from Times Machine per day per user)
• Podcasts (including The “Daily” podcast)
• Newsletters: Over 80 newsletters such as Well, Climate Forward, and more
• Accessibility features such as closed captions and a built-in screen reader interface
• All Multimedia, including video, photography, VR features, and new multimedia to come
• Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality found in the Mobile App; NYT stories told through enhanced technology
• Live Events – conversations with inspiring personalities
• Spanish and Mandarin Chinese translated versions of the New York Times
• Unlimited access to great learning tools: The New York Times in Education website and The Learning Network

• Step 1: Go here:
• Step 2: Click “Sign up with email”.
• Step 3: Enter your name, Gustavus email address, and create a password.

You now have access to the Athletic! You can choose teams to stay updated on your favorite sports and athletes!

• Step 1: Go here:
• Step 2: The access code should pre-populate (it’s the last part of the URL, after the equal sign).
• Step 3: If it doesn’t automatically happen, enter the login information for your NYT account (see above)

You now have access to the NYT games for 12 months. Happy gaming!

• Step 1: Go here
• Step 2: Enter name and Gustavus email address. Then, click ‘Get access’ below.
• Step 3: Check your Gustavus email for a message from USA TODAY. In the email, click ‘Activate My Digital Access.’
• Step 4: You will be redirected to a USA TODAY page with the name and email address auto-filled. Create a password and enjoy your access!

Option 1: Access the Minnesota Star Tribune through this link here.  

Option 2: If you plan to use the mobile app or access the Tribune off-campus often, follow these instructions to set up an account:

1. First, identify if you have an existing active paid subscription with the Minnesota Star Tribune using your @gustavus.edu email. If you do not have an existing subscription, skip to step 2.
2. If you have an existing subscription, please cancel the subscription attached to your account by:
3. logging into StarTribune.com using your @gustavus.edu email and current account password
4. clicking on your email in the top right corner of the website
5. clicking “Manage Account”
6. clicking on the “Subscriptions” tab
7. and then clicking the “Manage” drop down next to your subscription
8. PLEASE NOTE: If you do have an existing active paid subscription and you’d like to keep your subscription separate from our institutional subscription, then you may keep your subscription as is and do not need to follow any of the above steps. You will not be able to activate your account under our institutional subscription if you have an existing active subscription attached to your @gustavus.edu account. 
9. Second, please make sure that you are not currently signed in to any account on StarTribune.com associated with a non-gustavus.edu email address. If you are, please make sure to sign out before following the next step.
10. Please click on our institutional subscription redemption link HERE to activate access for your account under Gustvus’s institutional subscription. Please use your @gustavus.edu email address and follow the prompts to finish activating your account.

• Step 1: Go here

Once registered, you will have one year of account access to the Mankato Free Press.

The Academic and Student Affairs committee is devoted to the academic and student endeavors of the students of Gustavus. This committee focuses on academic issues such as the honor code as well as student affairs such as the new printing policy at Gustavus.

The goal of the Inclusive Excellence Committee is to assist the Diversity Leadership Council with the needs of their groups. This committee acts as the liaison between the DLC and Senate to make sure that finance guidelines are understandable, PR needs are taken care of, senate participates in DLC events when necessary, and that basic questions are answered about Student Senate. Additionally, the Inclusive Excellence committee dedicates its time into creating a safe campus environment for all students of any race and/or ethnicity. This committee recognizes the racial injustice in our society as a whole and strives to bring the Gustavus community closer to racial justice.

The Environmental Sustainability committee aims to connect students and the administration in their efforts to reduce the College’s environmental impact. This committee emphasizes inclusion and intersectionality in these efforts, and collaborates with an array of student organizations to promote sustainable behavior. Every semester, the committee will release a public report on Senate’s progress.

The primary purpose of the Ethics Committee is to see that the operations of Senate are carried out in an ethical manner in accordance with the Constitution, its by-laws, and College Policy. All Ethics Committee meetings shall be closed and all actions require the consent of a majority of the Committee’s membership.

The purpose of the Finance Committee is to allocate the student government fee to student groups in their pursuit of quality activities and events that provide enrichment not only for themselves, but also for the entire Gustavus community. Any member of Senate may attend Finance Committee meetings, but the meetings shall be closed to the general public. The Finance Committee reviews all student organization budget requests and forwards them to the full Senate with a recommendation.

The Health and Housing Committee works with various campus offices, such as Residential Life, Dining Services, and Health Services, to address student needs that fall under the Health and Housing category.

The Public Relations Committee’s goal is to facilitate communication between Student Senate and the students we represent. This committee keeps students informed through regular projects, such as the display case outside of the cafeteria, the monthly publication of The Gavel Gazette, and additional projects.

The Technology Committee focuses on everything related to technology on campus. We maintain the Senate website, address issues involving technology on campus, and pursue new initiatives while maintaining an emphasis on accessibility.