The Student Senate met to address new business and to put old business to bed as they gathered for what would be their penultimate meeting pending senate elections starting this week. Student Assocation President Rookie Reynoso started the meeting with brief updates on small campus renovation activity. According to Reynoso, the changes include the closing of Bevier Hall in the fall, renovating the lockers in Elting Gym, attempting to get a traffic light at the intersection of Maneheim Road and the South End entrance and the rebuilding of the Hasbrouck bridge— a projected $130,000 project.
Vice President of Academic Affairs and Governance Nicole Striffolino let everyone know that senate elections end tomorrow at midnight, before she informed everyone that one of the new Black Studies professors was just placed on the tenure track. Vice President of Finance Raquell Kissi added that the club budget numbers for conferences was 552 and general programming was 7,800. Senate Chair Paul Brown said he would soon be meeting with the Vice President of Academic Affairs to discuss lack of class availability.
Senator Moesha Smith broke the news that, according to head of Sodexo Ryan Goodwin, Oscar’s will not be returning as a dining option next semester. Instead, there will be a new dining hall opening inside of the Wooster building that will be open from Monday to Thursday. Smith also noted that Hasbrouck would be open until 11 p.m. every night, meal plans would remain the same, but there would be no food options on campus after 11 p.m.
Smith suggested creating a survey about potential dining hall options in the future to get student feedback. Soon after, Senator Charni-jah Clarke updated the senate on the progress of Reynoso’s previously suggested Ecuador earthquake fundraiser saying that donation boxes will be set up in all of the dorms around campus.
Up next, elections were held amongmembers of senate to decide the new Senate Chair for the upcoming semester. Current Senate Chair Paul Brown, Senator Moesha Smith and Senator Brenna Hemmings gave speeches expressing their intentions as Senate Chair and answered questions from the fellow senators. At last, after a ⅔ vote it was decided that Moesha Smith would be the new Senate Chair.
Goldie Harrison, Vice President of Programming addressed concerns about ticketing for the spring concert. 1,000 tickets sold out in less than five hours on April 18, the first day they went on sale and another 170 tickets sold out in less than a minute after the initial sale day. Harrison noted that the previous had never happened in the history of the school, and cited new provisions to handle ticket sales in the future. According to Harrison, future procedures will include an online RSVP for tickets. Senator Richard Pezzela introduced proposed general education curricula changes from administration that are meant to make sure students take a variety of classes. There are currently four different proposals and Pezzela suggested a poll with a basic description of each proposal to find out the best option according to the student body. Striffolino called for more transparency with administration in regards to possible GE changes.
At the end of the meeting, the last order of business shifted the discussion once again to the closing of Oscar’s. Pezzela noted that Hasbrouck did not have the room as a late night dining hall to accommodate all of the students if Oscar’s closed. The meeting ended with the suggestion that Ridgeview, Wooster and Hasbrouck all stay open late if Oscar’s is to close completely as a late night dining hall, and a final meeting scheduled next Wednesday at an undetermined time.