The Student Government Association (SGA) of Stevens is a campus organization tasked with representing the undergraduate student body and promoting the rights and concerns of undergraduate students. Within the SGA there are seven committees, each governed by a committee head. After extensive membership and leadership changes during the pandemic, the committee heads spoke on what they’re hoping to accomplish while they serve in their positions.
The Committee on Student Interests is headed by committee chair Gabriella Poska, who is also the Vice President of Student Interests (VPSI) on the SGA Cabinet. According to Poska, the purpose of the committee is to bridge the gap between student organizations at Stevens and SGA officials, such as herself and the Vice President of Finance, Victoria Agaliotis. It is also typically run by the VPSI and the heads of 11 subcommittees. However, there are currently vacancies for the heads of the Special Interests, Electronics and Gaming, Professional, Religious, Club Sports, and Recreation subcommittees. Poska stated that one of her goals as the head of the Committee on Student Interests was to update DuckLink and encourage its usage by campus organizations, stating “Utilizing DuckLink properly is extremely important for organizations, probably more important than they realize. It is not only the place where students can learn about your organization, but it is also linked in the background to Corq, where all events are easily listed for all students to see, so it can help a great amount with involvement.” Poska is also taking the initiative to start hosting “mini-Flock Parties,” in which student organizations could be re-introduced to the student body in smaller events broken down by subcommittee governance.
The Campus Wellness Committee is chaired by Benjamin Singleton. The committee was recently formed by the merging of the former Campus Life Committee and Health and Wellness Committee. According to Singleton, the two committees often had “overlapping goals, which were improving the physical campus and improving the mental health of [students], which […] are often not mutually exclusive.” Singleton became the chair after former chair Liana Meyer became President of the SGA and Singleton was subsequently nominated and elected by the Senate for the position. One of Singleton’s goals as the head of the Campus-Wellness Committee is to increase transparency between the SGA and the student body by utilizing events such as Cookies with the Cabinet and initiatives such as working on an SGA newsletter coordinated with the Public Relations Committee. Singleton also stated that he would like to undertake initiatives to improve the physical campus, such as improving campus furniture, increasing the number of available bike racks, and utilizing screens in campus buildings to promote student events and organizations. Notably, one of Singleton’s goals also includes collaborating with the Academic Affairs Committee to streamline the process to allow for Mental Health First Aid training programs to be taken for physical education credit at Stevens.
The Public Relations Committee of the SGA is led by Paulina Georgoutsos. According to Georgoutsos, the main focus of the Public Relations Committee is to promote SGA events and initiatives both on campus and on social media, primarily through the Instagram account @stevens_sga. As stated by Georgoutsos, “as the prior chair wanted to step down I knew I wanted to take on a greater role in the SGA, so I felt this was my perfect chance.” Georgoutsos was nominated and elected as chair of the committee at the end of the Spring 2021 semester. Thus far in the semester, Georgoutsos has had the goal of increasing SGA visibility on campus and over social media. The Public Relations Committee was also in charge of promoting SGA Senate elections this Fall semester.
The Government and Community Relations Committee is headed by Kristopher Trautz. According to Trautz, the purpose of the committee is to represent the views of the undergraduate student body on the local, state, and federal levels. Trautz emphasized the role of representing the student body through advocacy, stating that “If there’s an important issue in the world around us that we feel Stevens should take a stance on, I feel that is an advocacy role for this committee as much as a local election would be.” Recent initiatives undertaken by the committee include the passage of proclamations for the establishment of a Civilian Complaint Board for the Hoboken Police Department and requesting student representation in the Campus Security Advisory Board for the Stevens Police Force. Trautz also stated that some of his goals as chair include increasing student voter turnout in local elections and increasing engagement with local schools in the Hoboken community.
The Diversity and Inclusion Committee is headed by Vivian Touch. The purpose of the committee is to pursue initiatives that promote advocacy and allyship based on identity, with a focus on underrepresented communities at Stevens. The committee is composed of an appointed board (A-Board) which includes positions known as Advocates for religion, gender, race/ethnicity, sexuality, accessibility, and socioeconomic status. According to Touch, many of the committee’s recent initiatives have been held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of involvement on social media, Touch explained, “our social media campaigns are curated by our individual advocates to feature topics that are concentrated within their identities.” Recent social media campaigns by the committee included an International Women’s Day series, awareness campaigns about Ramadan, and a virtual celebration of Pride After Dark. This semester, the committee is focused on holding advocacy-related events while continuing their social media presence. Initiatives this semester will include movie showings on Palmer Lawn, a socioeconomic status campaign for first-generation college students, and continuing to solidify initiatives with health services and Greek Life. The committee is also currently recruiting for vacant positions for sexuality, accessibility, and religion Advocates.
The chair of the Academic Affairs Committee is Eden Luvishis, who was appointed by the previous Vice President of Operations and elected by the Senate. The Academic Affairs Committee is dedicated to representing the academic needs of the student community. One recent accomplishment of the committee was securing pass/fail grading policies for students that were engaged in distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Luvishis, one major goal of the committee this semester is to better improve infrastructure for recording in-person lectures. The committee is also collaborating with the Office of the Registrar to work on having final class schedules be published earlier, as well as pursuing interests expressed by the student body. One issue includes working with administration to keep a portion of academic buildings open “as late as 2:00 or 3:00am.”
The Rules Committee, headed by Anglina Rabbia, is tasked with ensuring all SGA documents are up to date as well as acting as a liaison between Senators and SGA legislation. The Rules Committee is also charged with reviewing new or changed Registered Student Organization (RSO) constitutions. According to Rabbia, “Rules is a very behind-the-scenes committee, but I love helping SGA and the student body through this avenue. I’d say I’m generally proud of every RSO constitution we’ve helped ratify, whether it was a new club or an existing club making a few changes or updates.” The primary goal of the committee this semester is to act as a resource for student organizations that may have questions about their governing documents or SGA legislation. The committee would also like to increase transparency and awareness about the documents that govern the SGA.
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