At its final formal meeting of the semester, the Slippery Rock Student Government Association (SGA) confirmed Nicole Dunlop, a sophomore homeland security major, as the organization’s newly-elected president Monday night.
As Dallas Kline’s final act as SGA president, she swore in Dunlop, officially passing over the presidency.
Kline, who will graduate in May with a Bachelor of Science in sport management, will return to SRU in the fall as a graduate student in the Student Affairs in Higher Education program. She was also elected as a student-at-large of the SGA board of directors with 12 votes.
Dunlop then swore in the new executive board, consisting of Vice President Khalil Harper (student and academic affair), Kaitlyn Hazelett (finance), Kemoni Farmer (campus outreach), Mia Graziani (internal affairs) and Maggie Calvert (diversity and inclusion), as well as eighteen senators.
SGA approved Calvert’s and Farmer’s executive board positions in Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, respectively. According to Article III, section 3.6 of SGA’s constitution, all executive board members must relinquish other executive board positions unless the senate approves with a two-thirds majority. The vote approved with yays from all voting members except Calvert and Farmer, who abstained from the vote.
In other elections, Joseph Sciuto, Watson Hall senator, and Cale Walker, commuter senator, both sought the position of Speaker of Senate. Sciuto was elected speaker of the senate with an 11-10 vote.
Sciuto, a freshman social work major, said being speaker of senate may be a stepping stone into a future executive board position.
“I chose to run because I really see an opportunity not only with my major, but also as a leader, to act as kind of the mother hen of senate, much like Taylor Cochran was last year,” Sciuto said.
SGA also appointed Matt Lerman as parliamentarian. Lerman previously served as a graduate senator at SRU and was involved in student government as his undergraduate university, Montclair State University in New Jersey.
Lerman said that he plans to become more educated on Robert’s Rules over the summer to help educate senators once the fall semester begins.
“It is my goal over the summer to really become well-versed in our constitution as well as Robert’s Rules and parliamentary procedure so that way, come next year, I can work with the executive board to successfully train the senate, the executive board as well as student organization on the proper rules of the student government,” Lerman said.
SGA also approved Corinne Rockefeller as the chairperson of the restructuring committee. The committee, previously led by Calvert, introduced a new senate structure to take effect in fall 2020.
In finance motions, SGA approved:
- A capital request from Interfraternity Council of $56,397 for a performance stage to be stored in the Smith Student Center
- Two new initiative requests from Club Lacrosse of $2,292.10 for transportation and Jazz Ensemble for $699 for a keyboard case and stand
- An endowment of $250,000 to be sent to the Slippery Rock University Foundation from SGA Bookstore reserves
- The 2019-20 student leader stipend budget of $82,955 to provide stipends for leaders in SGA, WSRU, University Program Board (UPB), The Rocket and Sound and Literary Art Book (SLAB)
- The 2019-20 AVI Vending Commission Agreement of $57,500
SGA approved two clubs: Sustainable Solutions Club and Social Work Club. Sustainable Solutions will promote sustainability on campus and operate the Operated With Love store in University Union, and Social Work Club will provide hands-on service and advocacy opportunities for students of any major.
