SGA hosts Town Hall, talks initiatives being worked on and goals

This article was written by Stephanie Searing and Trevor Dameika.

On December 2, the Student Government Association (SGA) hosted a Town Hall in which the incoming SGA President, Gab Poska, and Vice President of Operations (VPO), Paulina Georgoutsos, answered questions about the SGA and its trajectory. The event was hosted in Kidde and was moderated by Victoria Agaliotis, Vice President of Finance for the outgoing SGA Cabinet. The event was also live-streamed by SITTV which students can watch at this link.

As an introduction, Poska spoke about what the SGA has done so far this semester, including working with Quae to better survey the student body, establishing extended library hours, creating relationships with the Graduate Student Council, and addressing DuckLink issues. 

Speaking on their goals for next semester, the pair plans to focus on three specific areas: community impact, involvement, and mental health. Under the topic of community impact, the SGA hopes to establish a community day for Stevens and Hoboken. Furthermore, according to Poska, she has “various contacts at different universities such as New Jersey Institute of Technology” to communicate new ideas to reach out to students and the surrounding community.

While the SGA has ambitious plans for next semester, they acknowledged that more involvement is needed within the organization. Poska stated that there has been a “decrease in involvement in [the] SGA on campus,” but she wants to prove there is a reason to stay involved. Despite this reported decrease, Poska noted that the majority of the outgoing SGA Cabinet members are women, and they hope this representation will foster a more diverse culture in the SGA.

In terms of other initiatives, Poska aims to implement a mental health week each semester along with many events throughout the semester. To begin efforts, the SGA is hosting a de-stress event next week on December 9 in Babbio Atrium, collaborating with several other clubs and organizations on campus, including CAPS, Undergraduate Student Life, and Art Installations.

The pair also spoke on updates to the Constitutional amendments they are currently trying to pass through student signatures. Poska stated, “We currently have 681 votes, we need 1,355, so we surpassed the halfway mark today […] We’re averaging a pretty good percentage [of votes] every day, so it’s definitely looking like we will meet our quota ahead of time.”

Other initiatives discussed were “capital improvements” which according to the current SGA Constitution, explains that 3% of the Student Activity Fee (SAF) should be put towards accounts or line items. Through this, Poska wants to “allow any student to compose a capital improvement that they’d like to see happen on campus.” One of these discussed is the implementation of Amazon lockers on campus, which Poska stated “is already being worked on, within the next year I believe, we should have lockers that are similar to Amazon lockers but they can [also] hold […] FedEx, UPS.” 

Regarding collaboration with other clubs and organizations, the SGA is looking to create a new committee within the next week that will handle large-scale events on campus and help facilitate interclub collaboration. Poska stated she will work with the Entertainment Committee, and implement some of their tactics within the SGA, including creating a semesterly calendar for events.

They hope to also set up “Mini-Flock Parties” to allow students to get more involved on campus throughout the semester. In addition, different clubs frequently budget for similar events, and combining the events could result in a greater turnout for both clubs or organizations while reaching a greater variety of students. The SGA also hopes to encourage networking among student organization leaders to establish better communication, resolve issues, and plan events more efficiently.

The SGA is also looking to continue heavily utilizing the Quae app and increasing transparency within the organization next semester. Poska stated she hopes to add a procedure on how the SGA uses Quae to their governing documents, as “Quae is something that we feel so strongly about and we think that it will last for a very long time,” and they plan to use it “as often as possible.” They noted that student involvement, student suggestions, and communication are key to an effective student government. As Georgoutsos stated, “Nothing is too little to bring up; it’s going to make an impact and it’s important.” The pair additionally discussed writing a new Code of Ethics in the SGA Constitution, space for student organizations on campus, Senator relationships, writing annual reports on SGA initiatives, and more.

When asked about adding more classrooms to campus, Poska stated that “there are plans to add more classrooms to campus […] where they will be, how large they will be, what’s going to be in them is entirely unknown right now but it will be finalized by the time our [Stevens] 10-year strategic plan is published in January or February.” 

Poska and Georgoutsos stated that a report about the Town Hall and a notification of their election will be emailed to the student body soon. The SGA Cabinet under Poska and Georgoutsos will be appointed next semester in 2022.

Students who want to get involved in the SGA or ask questions can email them at sga@stevens.edu, direct message their Instagram @stevens_sga, or join their Slack Workspace by going to sgastevens.slack.com.