Last week, on Oct. 15, senators took a break from cramming for midterm exams to charter a new student organization that hopes to make a splash.

A great deal of the Student Government Association’s meeting revolved around SLUgtag, a Parks College-based student group that was inspired by Flugtag, a Red Bull-sponsored event that challenges teams of five to construct gliders and launch them off of a pier and into water. The team that is able to keep its glider aloft longest before it hits water wins the competition.

Christopher Peck, SLUgtag’s treasurer, pled his group’s case for chartering before the Senate.

Peck said that SLUgtag’s mission is twofold: to allow engineering students a shot at breaking the Flugtag world record and to “build a bridge” to unite what he called the “great divide between upper and lower classmen in Parks College.”

Although the group is already chartered under the Association of Parks College Students and has been active in several Parks College activities, the SGA senators initially disagreed on the group’s viability.

Concerns surrounded the safety of such an activity, the $4,000 proposed budget and a CSO’s association with the raucous Flugtag event.

Parks students argued on behalf of the group, ultimately leading the Senate to express its overwhelming support.

“We don’t have a club in Parks that draws everyone together so cohesively,” said International Student Federation President Rehan Refai.

SLUgtag was ultimately chartered, despite a slim margin of dissent, and became a dual CSO.

The Aero Design Team of Society of Automotive Engineers, another APCS CSO, was granted dual CSO status by the SGA as well.

Elizabeth Callahan, J.D., and Lindsay Denker gave the Senate a presentation on new developments in the Honors Department.

They announced the possibility of a new program, modeled after the premed scholars program, which would allow students in the College of Arts and Sciences the opportunity to be accepted into a masters program as they went through the undergraduate admission process.

Representatives of Chartwells Food Services also spoke about their endeavors to make on-campus eateries more environmentally friendly.

The Senate awarded Keep a Child Alive $1,040 in spot funding to attend a student AIDS summit this November in New York City.