As their time winds down as members of the 2016 Student Government Association Cabinet, President Matt Hunt, Vice President Jess Smith, Chair of the Committee on Student Interests Tommy Daly, Treasurer Jacob Vanderbilt, Secretary Amy DiGerolamo, and also Speaker Reeba James have provided updates on current initiatives and issues facing the larger student body as they vote for their next cabinet and the new SGA constitution in the coming week.
Remarking how the SGA strives to be “something that is valuable to the average student” and “can help improve [students’] lives,” Hunt reports several new committees run by current senators. These include a parking committee chaired by sophomore Liam McMurty, gender neutral housing committee chaired by sophomore Lucas Gallo, Student Affairs Liason Committee current Vice President Jessica Smith, and the annual Founder’s Day Ball committee chaired by senator and current SGA Vice Presidential candidate Cris Collado. There is also a bill to increase the number of bike racks on campus proposed by senior Christian Chiu.
The current president will also be pursuing an initiative involving the “collaboration of different groups on campus that pursue awareness, training, and reaction to sexual assault on college campuses,” specifically naming the office of Kristie Damell, the Take Back the Night Committee, and individual Greek efforts.
Additionally, Business & Technology Junior Emily Fea was appointed as Parliamentarian on October 30th, a role that holds the SGA accountable in accordance with its constitution, bylaws, and “Robert’s Rules of Order” – a book written to be a guiding force in parliamentary and deliberation procedure. The role grants Fea the ability to evaluate and have a ruling say on any motion or business the SGA conducts. Her nomination, endorsed by President Hunt and unopposed, was voted unanimously by the senate.
Vice President Jess Smith outlined her goal of “strengthening relationships between committee heads and the Vice President” for the organization to run efficiently at an internal level. In this vein, Smith has set up a “rotation system” for each new freshmen senator – officially brought in October 16th – to establish their knowledge of standing committees before committing to them. Likewise, the creation of ad-hoc committees, groups that take on a specific issue (i.e. the aforementioned parking and gender neutral housing committees) have been encouraged to support committee heads in their respective objectives.
Alongside continuously “working with starting organizations,” current CCSI Tommy Daly has formed the Programming Committee. Its purpose is to ensure that event programming “accurately represent the goals of their departments and creates meaningful and beneficial programming for students in a fiscally responsible manner” through working in conjunction with Student Life, Residence Life, Compass One Dining, University Events, the SGA, Student Affairs, and the Entertainment Committee. The committee aims to entrench each office’s event programming are “in line with students’ interests” and not planned over student-run events in openly discussing their events with student feedback.
Daly has also facilitated the New Organization Process, hoping to make the process behind starting an organization “more streamlined and guided,” helped create the Electronics & Training Subcommittee to “create a sense of community for the Stevens Gamers,” and is also working on a Religious & Faith Based Subcommittee that hopes to act as a “council for the student religious population.”
As Treasurer, Jacob Vanderbilt is close to achieving his goal of formalizing Budget Committee Procedures as a “Finance Policy Addendum to the SGA Bylaws” after now having one-and-a-half years trialing the committee. He also reiterated that open office hours for organizations to talk about their Spring budget submissions will take place on the 2nd floor of Jacobus on Tuesday, November 8th from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday the 9th from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday the 10th from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Friday the 11th from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.. In accordance with the budgeting timeline, the Budget Committee will meet on Sunday the 13th starting at 12:30 p.m. in BC 319 to discuss budgets with a “rough schedule” to be released Friday the 11th.
In tandem, Secretary Amy DiGerolamo would like to remind readers that the upcoming SGA Presidential Debate will take place on November 9th at 9 p.m. in BC 122. DiGerolamo is currently developing a website to “keep senators and the student body informed” about SGA developments, including how the organization has “switched over to a more formal way to make action using resolutions.” This new change strives to “[increase] transparency for the student body” and has “led to a more productive senate.”
Lastly, Reeba James’s objective as Speaker was to “to be accessible and available to the Senate.” James also conveys how the senate has deliberated on making her position an “active one that can drive positive change in how the meetings operate.” She is similarly “excited” about the new freshmen senators and notes how they’ve been “doing a great job with participating and finding initiatives to be a part of,” looking forward to seeing “all that they’ll do during their time as senators.” The current speaker is continuing to “liaison between the Senate and Cabinet” and hopes to continue improving how meetings are run to make them “the most effective they can be.”
Those looking to voice their own questions, comments, or concerns regarding any of the aforementioned updates or newfound ones can attend SGA meetings and discuss them during the Open Forum portion, relay them to their respective district senators, email sga@stevens.edu, or vote in the upcoming SGA Presidential Election, held online at www.stevens.edu/vote from 9 p.m. on Monday, November 7th to 9 a.m. on Monday, November 14th.
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