SGA held their final meeting for the 2016-17 school year Monday night, with farewell addresses being given by SGA president Logan Steigerwalt and University president Dr. Cheryl Norton.
Both reflected fondly on their time spent at Slippery Rock and looked toward their future.
“Thank you so much for what you’ve done in representing the students on campus, and everything you do to make Slippery Rock a better place,” Norton said as she addressed SGA for the last time. “For those of you who are returning, I hope that you continue to help keep SRU’s head and shoulders above other institutions, not just in the PASSHE system, but across the United States.”
Steigerwalt showed appreciation for members of his senate and executive board, along with SGA advisor Dr. Christine Pease-Hernandez, in a heartfelt in speech.
“Thank you all for helping guide me on this journey and allowing me to be able to stand up here and do what I do,” Steigerwalt said. “You all are the real rockstars; whenever someone tells me how great of a job I’m doing, I remind them of all the hard work SGA does and that I’m just the face of it.”
Steigerwalt will be replaced by former parliamentarian Rachel Lawler. Her old position will be filled by former senator Brendan Smith. The rest of the 2017-18 executive board is comprised of Alexandra Foster, VP of internal affairs, Scott Vogelgeson, VP of student and academic affairs, Riley Keffer, VP of financial affairs and Dallas Kline, VP of campus outreach.
Pease-Hernandez will be replaced by Dr. David Kershaw as the new SGA advisor. Kershaw is a political science professor and said that he looks to provide the same leadership as Pease-Hernandez did over the last five years.
There was a lengthy process by the new SGA in deciding who the new speaker of the senate would be. Two rounds of voting were held before a candidate had a majority vote, with freshman senator Josh Jenkins ultimately being selected by his peers.
The first request approved by the new SGA was by the Green and White Society for $1,823. The money will go towards paying for their executive board members to attend a national conference in Ohio.
Morgan Koziar gave a speech during open forum, promoting an event held by WSRU-TV and The Rocket to show off their new equipment and encourage students to get involved.
Last week’s request of $47,000 to renovate Wally Rose Field by the SRU club baseball team was approved. The field will be used for practice and games by club baseball and both men’s and women’s lacrosse.
Last week’s minutes were approved, along with a stipend budget of $79,000 for the 2017-18 SGA. A vending commission agreement was also reached with AVI Food Systems at $57,500, along with approving a $0.05 increase on all vending machine items.
The UFOlogists & Metaphysical Society was officially recognized as a club. The group will look to bring in speakers and organize events to learn more about UFO and bigfoot sightings in the area.
A request of $500 towards an audio system for the SRU Gospel Concert Choir was approved for their concert this weekend. This was to reimburse them for money they had to put upfront for the equipment.
Women’s club lacrosse was approved for $215 towards transportation and equipment fees.
The SRU Western Equestrian team was approved for a request of $826. The money will go towards the entry fee, along with transportation and lodging, for the national competition in North Carolina.
The Athletic Training Club was approved for a $215.25 request towards transporting seven students to a conference in Erie this summer.
The 2017-18 SGA will meet again in the fall 2017 semester.
