The Marquette Tribune
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Tuesday, April 9, 2024
The Marquette Tribune Volume 108, Number 8
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
www.marquettewire.org
campus news since 1916
MUSG to invest in campuswide initiatives
Photo by Jack Belmont john.belmont@marquette.edu
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Marquette University Student Government has built up a budget surplus, and is now working to find ways to distribute it. By Sahil Gupta sahil.gupta@marquette.edu
Marquette University Student Government plans to invest several years of budget surplus into various initiatives involving infrastructure improvements around campus designed to better the quality of students' academic and residential experiences at Marquette. In an interview with the Marquette Wire, MUSG
President Brennan Wills, a junior in the College of Communication, Legislative Vice President Justin Uribe, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Financial Vice President Logan Meyer, a junior in the College of Business Administration, sat down to discuss their agenda, which includes upgrades to campus buildings and the
installation of automated external defibrillators in residence halls. “The idea is that [the bill] going to be a large investment plan, ideally making the price target half a million dollars,” Meyer said. Meyer added that the funding would come from the over $718,000 student activity budget surplus that resulted from a lack
of organization spending during the pandemic. The bill is being dubbed "The Omnibus Bill." Any proposal must be approved by administration before being executed, however the three executives are confident in the project's viability. Wills emphasized the importance of collaborating with administration and maintaining a
working relationship. “[The process] is usually about finding ways in which we can either show them what the benefits are, [and] they can tell us where there might be areas where we are getting ahead of ourselves,” Wills said. There are several ideas currently floating among MUSG over specific initia See MUSG on page 2
MU community recovers from LA wildfires
By Mia Thurow
mia.thurow@marquette.edu
Student on campus when fires destroyed hometown Annie Biggs had to make an unimaginable decision in January—fly back to Marquette for the new semester as normal or stay home with family while the world seemed to burn around her house in Sherman Oaks, California. Biggs, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences,
lives in the valley of Los Angeles where she is surrounded by nearby hills. She said it is normally hard for wildfires to reach her community, and that she was never really affected by these natural disasters until conditions worsened in recent years. Biggs recalled how while she was at home over winter break, the Santa Ana winds, dry and warm gusts from inner Southern California, picked up as expected. However, widespread confusion broke out when a
wildfire started in the Palisades region of LA, close to her community. To the east, the Eaton fire was also just beginning to burn. “All of a sudden, they just got more intense and started heading north toward us,” Biggs said. “It happened slowly but quickly, which is scary because whenever I watch movies, I’m like, ‘Why wouldn’t people leave a natural disaster while they could? Why are they waiting?’” Bigg’s family spent three
nights up, constantly watching the news as their only source of what to do regarding evacuation. Biggs noted how out-ofcontrol the situation felt in that moment, and how her family had to make several emergency plans, one being whether she should go back to school or not. While Biggs ended up returning to Marquette for the spring semester, her parents had to evacuate their home in Sherman Oaks. Although her house was spared from the de-
struction, she said she knows many people who lost their homes, schools and places of cherished childhood memories. “So much is happening and I’m still in that mindset,” Biggs said of being back at school while wildfires raged on at home. “None of my friends have any idea what this feeling is or how intense it actually is.” Jess Verdejo, director of the Arrupe Center for Community Service & Social Responsibility, grew See L.A. on page 2
Index www.marquettewire.org
SPORTS.......................................................5 OPINIONS..................................................9 FUN & GAMES........................................10 A&E................................................................11
News
Sports
A&E
Alum to lead university faith
MUBB's struggles continue
Halftime Highlights
PAGE 4
PAGE 5
Stephen Blaha talks goals for campus ministry
Men's team on a three-game losing streak
Kendrick Lamar entertained America with a medley of his most popular songs PAGE 12