Maria Castano, Staff Writer
On Oct. 14, Manhattan University’s Senate met to discuss residence life, public safety, athletic events and a possible new committee between the senate and the student government.
Staff and faculty members attended, including Vice President of Student Life Kristell Lowe, Interim Provost Bridget Chalk, Ph.D., and the student vice president of the O’Malley School of Business, Andrew Berg.
Lowe opened her update on residence life by noting a slight decrease in the occupancy of the residence halls, going from 67% last fall semester to 61% currently. MU saw positive reviews from freshmen this year about the move-in experience, thanks to a team of 30 movers hired by the university. Additionally over the summer, some cosmetic upgrades were made in Lee and Horan Halls, including an upgrade in signage.
“We created a new room category for students to select, with the ability for them to basically purchase or reserve an entire side of a four-person suite in Horan Hall,” Lowe said.
The arrangement of the rooms in Chrysostom Hall and Jasper Hall that obligates students to use communal bathrooms was addressed, and now students have the option to be in single rooms with private bathrooms, while only sharing with two other suites. Lowe also shared that meal swipes at Café 1853 have been introduced.
There was a focus to make the first six weeks of the semester as successful as possible for incoming students. Lowe proposed executing one program every night for the first six weeks in the residence halls. This goal was exceeded, with 52 programs taking place.
Lowe also shared the importance of getting more students to go to sports events, hoping to achieve a good turnout for Manhattan Madness, the university’s annual pep rally.
“We are working on better game day signage,” Lowe said. “We will organize some tailgates. We gather feedback from students, also from other institutions, and those who attend consistently on what they want to see. We will have events hosted by men’s basketball and women’s basketball throughout the season, and just an overall increased awareness on when our games [are].”
As for Public Safety, the team reported recruiting more local businesses to join Jasper Safe. The office also reported the purchase of one hundred safety locks that are set to be installed in classrooms to aid in case of emergencies.
Additionally, the block schedule for fall 2026 will be voted on Nov. 4. This schedule has been researched for 18 months and the Senate hopes to enforce it beginning January 2026.
Chalk mentioned discussions about a new mandatory attendance-taking policy and double-dipping policy.
“[The double dipping policy would] limit the amount of courses that could count to two majors to basically a sliding scale based on the number of credits required,” Chalk said. “Two courses for majors up to a certain number of credits, and then three courses, if the major exceeds that number of credits.”
Neither of these new policies have been officially voted on as of yet.
Berg went on to introduce a new joint senate/student government committee.
“[The purpose of the committee is] to strengthen collaboration, communication, and coordination between the Student Senate and the Student Government Association (SGA) in serving the student body,” Berg said.
Berg mentioned how students were unaware of these organizations as avenues for them to voice their concerns and wanted to bridge the communication gap between them.
This act was approved by the Senate, only needing the approval of the assembly members from the SGA to move forward.