The Slippery Rock University Student Government Association (SGA) discussed their new goals and ideas for the new academic school year in their first senate meeting on Tuesday.
President Cheryl J. Norton opened the meeting, thanking the new board for taking on the leadership responsibilities of SGA, as well as introducing a couple new ideas of her own.
Norton explained the significance of the Slippery Rock Group Development and how it benefits our students if they choose to get involved. The Slippery Rock Group Development is an organized group of citizens from the borough who have made it their purpose to try to enhance the living conditions in the community.
Norton suggested to students the idea of forming a committee that sits with the Slippery Rock Group Development to discuss how to access information about what students want to see in the community and how students can work together to fulfill those needs.
“I sat down with Slippery Rock Group Development President Gill and suggested that perhaps this might be an opportunity for students to work side by side with the Community Leadership to express what they are interested in doing in the Slippery Rock community,” Norton said. “It’s a two-way street. We not only live here, but we make a difference in what comes and goes.”
The suggestion for the committee was tabled until the next senate meeting.
SGA opened the election for commuter senators. Two of the applicants, Candice Robinette and Cheney Preston were elected and swore in as commuter senators for the year. Tatiana Bone was also sworn in as a commuter senator after being elected last semester.
SGA approved a committee that will help with all of the work that comes with prepping for the Slippery Rock vs. Mercyhurst game in Michigan on Oct. 18. The committee will be helping with ordering busses and making sure that students have tickets and will be ran by Building A senator, Emily Murasso.
The Women’s Soccer Club was approved as a recognized student organization on campus, as well as the Amnesty International Club. Along with the approval of the Amnesty International Club, which also received a grant of $100 from SGA for the 2014-2015 academic year.
With the start of a new academic year, SGA has many goals that they plan on achieving.
“I plan on continually meeting with every organization on this campus just to continue to see how we can help them promote their initiatives,” SGA President, Katie Hill, said. “I’m also working on increasing my transparency. I want to make sure I’m doing everything I can to make students feel welcome to come into the SGA office to express their ideas.”
Vice President of Campus Outreach, Anthony Plumberg, also has goals that he would like to achieve. Plumberg expressed how he would like to bring back the evening route for Happy Bus.
“We chose to not continue the evening route of the Happy Bus last year. We received a lot of mixed reactions about that. Obviously it was a better move financially, but there are concerns about campus safety. We want to try to bring that back,” Plumberg said. “It wouldn’t be a problem to get it started again, especially during the winter as the weather gets colder and some students don’t feel like walking to class.”
Vice President of Financial Affairs, Baylee Childress, plans on focusing more on relationship building with students and with other committee members. Childress also wants to aim for more communication and transparency not only within herself, but within her committee as well.
Parliamentarian, Jessica Johnson, expressed how she would like to get her advocacy project moving. The project allows students to gain knowledge about what SGA can do for them academically and personally. Speaker of the Senate, Megan Burr, wants to keep the commuter breakfast going, as it produces positive results from commuter students. She also wants to create more activities for commuters to participate in on campus.
The next SGA meeting will be held on Monday, Sept. 15th at 8:45 p.m. in the theater of the Robert M. Smith Student Center.
The meeting adjourned at 9:46 p.m.
