Slippery Rock Student Government Association’s (SGA) senate body approved nominations for parliamentarian and speaker of the senate Monday night during the organization’s first formal meeting of the semester.
Grant Warmbein, a junior psychology major, was selected out of four candidates by SGA President Joey Sciuto. Warmbein, who has no previous experience with SGA, was unanimously confirmed by the senate.
Sciuto said he believed Warmbein would “mesh” well with the rest of the executive board, which was something the board was looking for in a candidate.
“That’s something we really, really prioritized this year,” said Sciuto as he addressed the senate. “Being a cohesive unit, especially when we all can’t be together.”
Warmbein said he enjoys keeping track of proper procedures and making sure things run smoothly – something he has had done in other organizations like the Kappa Sigma fraternity.
Parliamentarian candidate Nicholas Condon, who turned down his senator position last week, said he only wanted to serve in SGA as parliamentarian.
Condon said talk behind the scenes and the approval of Warmbein made it clear to him that rumors he would not serve in the position under Sciuto were true. Condon lost to Sciuto in the SGA presidential race last spring.
“I can also see that my presence is seen as one that creates conflict and that, in general, is not welcomed,” Condon said in an email.
While Condon said he respects Sciuto’s decision and wishes Warmbein “nothing but the best,” he will not return to the SRSGA in any position.
After confirming Warmbein, the senate moved to nominate Resident Hall Senator Kyle Mennor as speaker of the senate.
Mennor, who was a senator last year, said he hoped to do just as well as former Speaker Sciuto, acting as a mediator for the senate body and executive board.
“Last year there seemed to be … more of a fog when it came to issues,” said Mennor, addressing the senate. “So, I’m really hoping to clarify for senators.”
Besides Mennor abstaining from the vote, he was approved by all senators present.
Along with confirmations of parliamentarian and speaker of the senate, SGA moved to confirm two senators—Alexander Riccardi (at-large senator) and Loreal Thompson (commuter senator)—that were not present at the special session the previous week. That motion passed unanimously but neither senator was present to be sworn in.
According to Mia Graziani, vice president of internal affairs, Riccardi and Senator-elect Braydon Brinkler will be sworn in during SRSGA’s next formal meeting Oct. 5. Since the meeting yesterday, Thompson had decided to not accept the senator position, according to Graziani in an email.
SGA also approved the moving of Senator Matthew Diamond from an at-large senator to college of liberal arts senator. While discussing the motion, Graziani explained that Diamond had requested the move since there was an available seat.
After the explanation by Graziani, the senate unanimously passed the motion. With Diamond currently serving as a senator, he did not have to reaffirm his oath.
With the senator moves, SGA currently have 25 senators serving with two more to be confirmed in October.
Since the elections at the beginning of September, 12 senators-elects have declined their positions. Most of those positions are from at-large senate seats.
One of the last orders of business for the newly elected senate was a motion to approve the purchase of point-of-sale software for the bookstore.
Vice President of Finance Nathaniel Desing said the current software will no longer be supported next summer and that SGA had to make this decision well in advance of that due to the time needed to implement the system.
Desing said initial costs for the Oracle software by Netsuite would be around $81,400 with yearly upkeep costs of around $47,500. The new system should be implemented in six to eight months, according to Desing.
The purchase of the software was approved unanimously by the senate.
