The Slippery Rock Student Government Association (SGA) held its first meeting of the spring semester Monday night in the Smith Student Center Theater and discussed plans for the upcoming semester.
SGA began the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by two guest speakers in attendance. Robert Lagnese, director of orientation, spoke about orientation and the openings available to students.
“We need about 11 strong and impact full leaders, to fill the positions of Orientation Ambassadors,” Lagnese said. “Two main roles are served by these students. You’ll be in charge of small groups of students and parents and act as a liaison with faculty. You need two references and one letter of recommendation, as well as a 2.85 GPA. Any student wishing to join can fill out an application, just make sure you are enrolled for next semester.”
Dr. Amir Mohammadi, vice president for finance and administration, spoke about renovations that will be done over the summer, and energy savings on campus.
“This summer will be the busiest one ever when it comes to renovations at SRU,” Mohammadi said. “Every building will be involved in some kind of renovation. We are changing the differed maintenance to this summer so when students come back, they can be even more proud of their campus.”
Logan Steigerwalt, SGA President, welcomed students back and discussed some open spots on the senate.
“First of all welcome back everyone, we currently have five commuter senator, one building B senator, and two graduate senator positions open for election,” Steigerwalt said.
Sarah Arpino, VP of internal affairs, talked about the SGA Valentines Day Flower Sale. It will be on Feb. 13 and 14 outside of Starbucks from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Arpino said. It will be one dollar for carnations, and two dollars for roses, Arpino said.
The Conference Grants are out now, and will be due February 17 in the SGA office, Brian Welsh, VP of financial affairs, said.
A member of the Student and Academic Affairs committee said, that students will now be able to check their flex dollars on the computer and certain applications on their smartphones.
Steigerwalt discussed the Presidential Search Committee that will help select the next SRU President, upon Dr. Cheryl Norton’s retirement this summer.
“We get the chance to select one student to represent us on this committee, and that’s and awesome opportunity,” Steigerwalt said. “It will be pretty time consuming though, with full and half day meetings on a select few days. The goal is to get a name by the end of the semester for the next president.”
Three students were interested in this position, and a senior named Jacqueline was selected to be the student representative.
SGA also approved The Social Justice Committee nominations for a new Chairperson and C0-Chairperson of the committee. Autumn Smith, freshman, and Victoria Davis, junior, will assume these positions for the remainder of the semester. SGA senators spoke highly of these two, and believe they are the best candidates for their respective positions.
SGA approved the agreement with Places, which is platform for off campus student housing. Wendy Leitera, SGA adviser, said this is a great way for students to find housing, list their lease they want to get rid of, or find roommates. The agreement is for one year, and is renewable each year, Leitera said.
SGA continued to get new business done, as they approved the Student Activity Fee Budget for the semester. The budget is set at $2,198,208.00, which is a seven percent increase for all clubs and organizations.
Finally, SGA approved the minutes from their last formal meeting on Dec. 5.
SGA’s next formal meeting will occur on Feb. 13 at 8:45 p.m. in the SSC Theater.
