Members of the Student Government Association voted to approve their yearly budget in their first senate meeting of the semester on Monday night.

Senators questioned a threefold increase in the allocation for catering, jumping from $500 to $1500. SGA President Logan Phillips said they plan to use these funds to co-sponsor more events with various student organizations.

Treasurer Kylie Noe said the $1500 dollar allocation is comparable to what has been spent on catering in the past years.

New student representatives from each college, as well as five new first-year senators were sworn in and took oaths to uphold the student constitution of Southeast.

President Vargas opened the meeting in the University Center Ballroom by introducing the executive staff — Provost Mike Goddard, Vice President for Finance and Administration Brad Sheriff, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success Debbie Below, Vice President for University Advancement Trudy Lee, Dean of Students and Vice President for Equity, Access and Behavioral Health Sonia Rucker and Chief of Staff Chris Martin.

Each member of the executive staff welcomed SGA back into session and spoke on how their individual positions interact with SGA and the student body.

Vargas said the work SGA does in connecting and representing the student body helped Southeast through the last few months dealing with the pandemic.

“One thing that I truly love is interacting with the students, and that has been a challenge for me, in the spring when we had to have everybody home and we haven't had students here for a long time,” Vargas said. “I am delighted that all of you are here. I’m very happy and very excited. More than that I am very pleased that we have, as an institution, and [SGA] in particular have helped us maintain this level of stability that has allowed us to continue to operate.”

Minutes and agendas for SGA senate meetings can be found on their webpage and the Arrow streams every SGA senate meeting, Mondays at 8 p.m. on Facebook Live.