Student Government Association President Lincoln Anniballi gave a presentation regarding a new campus-wide policy to ‘beautify’ the campus.
For its first meeting this semester, the Student Government Association (SGA) Senate deliberated on a myriad of topics relevant to Hofstra University’s student body. One major focus of this meeting was Hofstra’s recent decision to remove animals, notably cats, from sheltering in various places on campus. SGA president and senior history and political science major Lincoln Anniballi gave a presentation where he stressed that this decision was made to keep the cats safe.
“Hofstra is trying to ensure that the cats are cared for properly … not spreading disease or causing any issues for the cats or their health,” Anniballi said.
He also quelled student worries regarding whether the cats could survive without the shelters.
“These cats live in the wild, and they always have. They’re not like home domesticated cats … they know how to live in the wild with or without a man-made shelter.”
Following this, senators deliberated their plans for an updated Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center.
According to Anniballi, “The new ‘Stu’ plans are more open and more accessible … it’ll just be more efficient for everyone involved: less lines, less waiting and just a more aesthetically pleasing student center that is student centered.”
Some senators, such as junior television and film major DaeJa Young, who is the Equity and Inclusion Chair, spoke on the updated student center.
“I’ve been at the school for three years so far, and the student center has not changed besides the Halal Shack, so seeing it change and seeing how these new changes make the environment more welcoming and easy to navigate is exciting,” Young said.
The SGA then discussed a new initiative: Keep Hofstra Beautiful. This initiative would encourage students to clean up shared spaces, be kind to one another and pick up garbage – even if it’s not theirs.
According to Anniballi, “Keep Hofstra Beautiful is a campus movement to enhance our campus culture and strengthen our community and ensure that students are caring about each other and the spaces that we all exist in.”
Senator and freshman mechanical engineering major Logan Finkelstein expressed how the initiative is affecting him, saying that he’s “[going to] be keeping an eye out for trash everywhere [he goes] … [He’s] gonna try and encourage others to do so too.”
At the SGA Senate meeting on February 6th, President Anniballi informed senators about updates to the campus demonstration policy. This updated policy removes the three-hour demonstration time limit, allows demonstrations to occur anywhere on North Campus—though protests on South Campus are still restricted to Hofstra Hall—permits the use of amplified sound and allows students to wear masks while protesting, though they are required to present their IDs if requested to by Public Safety.
President Anniballi explained why advocating for this change was important to SGA: “Over the Summer, the current demonstration policy was changed to be more restrictive of students’ rights, which are guaranteed in the Hofstra policy series very clearly, and we felt that the new demonstration policy was so counter to the principles and values of free speech…so we advocated for a lot of things.”
The changes to the demonstration policy are planned to take effect in March.
SGA hosted Hofstra President Susan Poser at this senate. President Poser spoke about Hofstra’s readiness to react to changes wrought on by the Trump Administration including those relating to diversity, equity and inclusion, immigration and student financial aid.
President Poser stressed that predicting any governmental changes—what they would be, if they would happen and how they would be enforced—would be impossible. As such, she claimed that all Hofstra can do is watch and react, and that is exactly what they plan to do.
Senator Jacob Iacobovici felt Hofstra was not taking enough precautions regardless of predictability: “Maybe there isn’t a need for a plan yet, but with the administration going as it is … I think it’s only necessary that we take the proper precautions for these changes and make these plans.”
Another issue President Poser spoke on was the inclusion of the Palestinian flag among the others in the Student Center—an issue that has persisted since the President’s Town Hall in November 2024. According to President Poser, Hofstra will hang every nation’s flag to represent the world and welcome potential and current international students by representing their nation in the Student Center. SGA advocated for this solution in a November 2024 letter to President Poser and Vice President Jess Eads.
These flags will be added over Spring Break.
The final issue President Poser addressed was a few changes planned for the Summer: Hofstra will renovate Monroe Hall, the ninth floor of the Axinn Library and is considering renovations for the main and ground floors of Axinn. Moreover, advising will be moved to the fourth floor of Axinn, so it is closer to tutoring spaces, and offices in Hofstra Hall will be moved elsewhere, so Hofstra Hall can serve as a community space.
To get SGA Senate minutes with more detailed information about these developments and more, visit https://www.hofstra.edu/student-government-association/documents.html or email [email protected] to request them if they have not yet been posted.
