By Kara McGrath, Staff Writer
The Student Government Association opened their meeting Tuesday night with guest speaker Joseph Barkwill, the vice president for Facilities and Operations at Hofstra University.
Barkwill came to the Senate to speak about projects that the department of facilities and operations has been working on at Hofstra and projects for the future. Among these projects are continuing environmental stewardship at the University, getting the new medical school accredited, installing overhead lighting in Nassau/Suffolk hall, and working on responding more quickly to student work orders.
The Department also wants to try to put a solar project on campus, such as solar panels in Colonial Square, the Netherlands, or the pool, renovate elevators in the towers and Nassau/Suffolk, and continuing to upgrade bathrooms in academic buildings on campus. Barkwill also is working to have more franchises like California Pizza Kitchen and Subway on campus, and said that he “would love to get a student group to solicit input on dining selections.”
After Barkwill spoke, the meeting continued as usual with Appropriations Chair Yeyoung Lee’s report. Lee said that appropriations will not see any more clubs this year, however budget weekend is this Friday and Saturday, which is when appropriations will see all the proposals handed in over the past month through their paperless budget system.
SGA elections, which will be moved to the portal this year, typically include referenda on the ballots. Referenda are questions posed, usually by senators, to the student body, and the Senate passed one Tuesday night, which will ask about Axinn Library hours.
Students who are not senators can suggest a referendum by having a Senate sponsor bring their question to the rules committee.
The Senate approved one proposal Tuesday, which changed SGA’s Constitution and Policy Series so that it is clear that SGA can only freeze SGA-allocated funds in a club or organization’s account.
Comptroller Brian Marquis closed the meeting by reminding the senators that this weekend is budget weekend, and that the Senate meeting next Tuesday, April 20, will be to approve clubs’ budgets for next year.
