During the April 28 Student Government Association business meeting, Megan Curling was unanimously appointed to the role of Vice President of Finance. Student Body President Nadine Jose also introduced the appointment of four additional students to vacant positions within SGA.
Before being appointed, Curling said was excited for this role and that her experience of being the treasurer for multiple organizations on campus would help prepare her to be the next VP of finance. She also said she is interested in this position to help increase visibility of the finance board on campus.
“At the moment as a treasurer, I really struggled at times throughout the year to understand who I was supposed to be in contact with when I had issues and I know after talking to my peers that the senate has similar issues,” Curling said. “Working with a really great administrative team to add those goals that I know they already have to make sure that visibility is increased and people really understand why this organization exists, instead of just knowing what it does, I think is really great.”
All other appointed positions were also unanimously approved by the senate. Chief Justice Cole Meixsell swore in Clara Watkins as associate justice, Jocelyn Taylor to the position of class of 2023 treasurer and Anna Gillespie to the finance board. Class of 2025 Senator Robin Falkow was also appointed as Speaker Pro Tempore and Class of 2024 Demetria Hall was appointed as Parliamentarian.
Jose also said if there is anyone interested, within SGA, or otherwise, in being a part of SGA’s cabinet, there are open positions and students interested should contact her.
“The cabinet is more initiative based, it meets weekly,” Jose said. “Civic engagement and service director, community outreach director, wellness and well being director and student engagement director are primarily the one’s I’m looking for.”
Jodean Schmiederer, dean of student development, reiterated Jose’s sentiment in her adviser’s report.
“When we look at our Phoenix Connect data, there is about 10% of our students that I would say are overly involved, and that is about it,” Schmiederer said. “If you really think about it, I bet you can count on both hands the number of students, and peers that you have, that really aren't overcommitted, that aren't involved, and that might be looking for ways to get involved.”
The Senate also passed the 2022-23 Judicial Manual. This is the first year SGA will have a Judiciary, and the main roles they have will be to work with SGA’s election committee on election oversight and work with the student life committee to set standards for other organizations if they are looking for assistance. The Judiciary will also clarify what is expected of a senator, setting clear guidelines such as what counts as an excused absence.
SGA also passed the first-year election packet, for when elections for first-years occur in the fall. The major changes included adding gender inclusive language and getting rid of the at-large committee that used to exist for first-years. This passed unanimously.
SGA passed the 2022-23 bylaws this evening as well. The main changes for the bylaws for this term were adding specific job descriptions for each position. Speaker of the Senate Trevor Molin said the goal of this is for anyone to be able to look at the bylaws and understand what any senator's role is.
The final SGA business meeting of the semester will be next Thursday, May 5.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Kylie Faherty was sworn in this evening. Faherty was not able to attend this evening and therefore was not sworn in. Elon News Network regrets this error.