The Slippery Rock Student Government Association (SRSGA) unanimously passed its 2022-2023 budget, on Jan. 24, totaling $2.5 million.
The student activity budget stayed at $2.5 million since 2019, as per recommendation from the finance committee.
This first meeting back from winter break was supposed to be held in person at the Smith’s Student Center (SSC) but had to be moved to an online Zoom meeting due to inclement weather.
Though the passing of next year’s budget was a monumental step forward for SRSGA during the transition into the new semester, ongoing concerns over on-campus food quality were brought into question by Sen. Gabriel Stiles.
“There was a severe drop in food quality,” Stiles said. “I’ve been told by a couple [of] residents.”
Stiles, who heads the ad-hoc committee, went on to discuss multiple complaints of cold burgers along with burnt and dry chicken patties, all problems that the new dining service did not have the previous semester.
Disgruntlement due to lack of nutritional information being posted throughout Boozel Dining Hall was also an area of discussion.
“Nutrition information was really good,” Stiles said. “[The information] popped up and they had nutrition information on every single item listed in Boozel at the end of the semester last year, and now it’s gone again.”
The senator said these are problems they plan on figuring out, alongside a final push for an increase in student wages for Aramark workers from $11 to $12 an hour.
Parliamentarian Nicholas Condon brought forth plans for SRSGA’s quickly approaching election cycle. SRSGA’s Election Commission, headed by Condon along with Vice President of Student Outreach Aiden Donnelly, plans to make packets available for interested members by Feb. 14.
The Election Commission plans to meet on Tuesdays at 5-6 p.m. in the SSC.
During commission reports, Sen. Caleb Covey discussed how the Award for Academic Advising committee met to narrow down the choices for the winner of the award.
“The award for Academic Advising met today and we kind of went through and just narrowed down our top ten finalists,” Covey said. “So, then we are going to meet again and narrow it down to our top 2 at some point.”
A motion to purchase a new synthesizer cart for Marching Pride was presented by Sen. Christopher Dang. According to Dang, the current synthesizer cart is outdated and the price of $2867.57 is a good deal for the much-needed new piece of equipment.
The motion passed unanimously with no debate.
SRSGA also confirmed the appointment of Kai Bright as the College of Education Senator. Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Alexis Gish first motioned for the appointment of Bright and Sen. Robbi Austin seconded.
“Kai is an education major, was a senator two semesters ago and was studying abroad last semester,” Gish said. “[Bright] was a very valuable member to SGA and more specifically the social justice committee.”
Gish closed by highly endorsing Bright for the position. The Senate unanimously confirmed Bright.
SRSGA plans to hold its next formal meeting on Feb. 7 at 5 p.m. at the SSC. For more information, visit their CORE page.
