by GABRIELLA DEPINHO & MARIA THOMAS, News Editor & Asst. News Editor
On Wednesday, April 10, Student Government hosted its sixth meeting of the semester, where important discussions were led by the Resident Student Association, the Neighborhood Relations Committee, the Club Oversight Committee, and the other various assembly committees.
Club Oversight Committee
The Club Oversight Committee, led by VP of Club Administration Hayley Nightingale, is preparing to present two clubs for voting before the assembly at the next assembly meetings. Clubs that were applying brought representatives to the meeting to speak about their clubs and why they want to be recognized by student engagement.
From the Women in Business club, Rabea Ali addressed concerns about funding and recognition on campus.
Ali said, “We have a system already, we’ve started up but we’re an unrecognized club so there’s no funding tied to that, so anything and everything we’ve done has either been co-sponsored or out of pocket.”
The club does not receive any funding from the school of business. Women in Business is a national organization, but at Manhattan College they cannot apply to be an official chapter because they are not under student engagement.
Additionally, the prospective Jewish Student Union explained why they think an organization on campus would be beneficial to students. The student representative present said that Jewish faith has a big emphasis on community, so they’re looking to start a community at Manhattan. The organization is first trying to accomplish this through student government before contacting Campus Ministry and Social Action (CMSA).
Dining for Women, a club founded as a unofficial chapter of a national organization, also addressed the issue of needing funding as a reason for applying to be a club under student engagement. Shannon Forty and Ireland Twiggs are the two co-founders of this group. The two are hoping to expand the reach of the club’s work but finds that having no funding is stopping them.
“Dining for Women is a national organization who was founded by women who were looking for a way to give back to women internationally who were facing a lot of issues, specifically regarding feminism. We get together and we talk about these issues, it’s called dining so we have some food and we do it for the purpose of helping women,” said Forty.
Forty said that often times the organization spends money out of pocket to get refreshments and are trying to send money to the charities they talk about at their meetings. This group is another group that does not get any funding from CMSA.
Lastly, Peter Halliday, the representative for the Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals club, explained the club’s mission and what he hopes SETA can do.
“I’m trying to further awareness for a plant based diet, a vegan lifestyle, cooperating with all the dining options, specifically Nick Vallinoti, revolutionizing all the menus, and holding events on campus,” said Halliday.
Halliday said they would use a budget to organize guest lecturers and different events.
Lotus Magazine, HerCampus at Manhattan and Photography Club also applied to become an official club under Student Engagement but did not have a representative to speak for them.
The Club Oversight Committee will meet next week to decide which clubs will be brought before the assembly for voting.
Nightingale said, “The club oversight committee will meet to come up with two proposed clubs and we’ll bring those to the assembly and vote on those and if there are disagreements we’ll go back to the other seven.”
Nightingale confirmed that clubs need to have funding under Student Engagement in order to be considered an official club; they can have an official email even if they aren’t an official club.
The B.E.S.T of the Bronx party is in full support of the new clubs that are trying to form.
“We are pushing and working with administration to be able to accept you guys. It’s just that there’s a lot of behind the scenes and rules that they press upon us. It’s not just a black and white process, as much as we would like it to be,” said President Cooper.
Nightingale said, “To go off of that, even if we’re not able to recognize [everyone] as a club, we do have plans in place to work with them and help them hold events they’ve requested.”
Commuter Student Association
Anna Rosario, the Vice President of Commuter Affairs, has once again advertised the commuter field trip to New Roc bowling. Rosario noted that spots are filling up quickly.
Additionally, Rosario brought attention to Commuter Appreciation Day, which will be held on April 30th from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on the quad.
Neighborhood Relations Committee
The Neighborhood Relations Committee discussed the neighborhood cleanup which will be held the day after Springfest, on Sunday, April 14.
Chairperson for the Committee, Marshall Strawbridge, said, “We were lucky enough to partner with the great community group from the neighborhood, Students of Brust Park, so this weekend we’ll be doing our bi-annual neighborhood cleanup with them. We’ll be focusing on the lower part of Brust Park. One thing I want to do a better part of communicating is that it’s part of a three-part series, the ‘It’s My Park” series.”.
Resident Student Association
The Resident Student Association noted that there would be no changes made to the Springfest guest pass rules.
Isabel Quinones, VP of Residential affairs addressed the rumours going around about dorm policies for next year.
“There are some rumours going around about next year’s dorm policies. It’s still in the preliminary stages, they’re still looking at it so rumours shouldn’t exist because there’s no policy being spoken about yet. They’re basically just looking at who has access to the buildings, when they have access, things like that,” said Quinones.
Rosario said, “Their main concern is the safety of the residents. Most colleges don’t have the open door policy Manhattan College has with everyone being allowed to swipe into everyone’s dorm. That’s just something Charles [Clency] has been looking into.”
The assembly discussed some of the rumours about the potential changes, especially the ways in which commuters would be affected by it. Clency plans to come to the last assembly meeting so students can come and raise their concerns to him.
Miscellaneous Topics
Scaramucci’s visit to campus was held the same day as the assembly meeting and was advertised to the assembly.
The next Senate meeting will be on April 16, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the alumni room. Speaker of the Senate, Liam Moran confirmed that President Brennan O’Donnell will be there.
VP of the School of Business, Jiuxing “Paul” Fucao announced that Players would be doing a fundraiser for Flint, Mich. at the Urinetown shows on April 11, 12 and 14.
The executive board announced that there are still openings for next year’s school Vice Presidents and that these elections would take place in the fall but students who are interested in these positions are encouraged to attend the next assembly meeting to get a taste for it this semester.