By Kara McGrath, Staff Writer
The SGA Senate had another long, but productive, meeting on Tuesday night. They began by electing three new Senators: Ben Timlichman, a history major from Queens, Jude Greenspan, a marketing major from Connecticut, and Tara Khoshbin, a management major from Los Angeles. The Senate also re-elected Akanksha Mittal, a marketing major from Africa.
Then came the shortest debate of the night. The Senate voted almost unanimously to endorse the Progressive Student Union’s Budget Transparency Petition. The petition will ask that “the University Administration provides all students with a complete itemized list of how the following fees are allocated within the funding of offices, departments, and other university expenses.” The petition then goes on to list various fees, including Activity Fee, Late Payment Fee and HofstraCard Replacement Fee.
Academic Affairs Chairman James Wells and Senator Michael Herschfield presented a resolution that would require dining halls to remain open for regular hours for the duration of the semester, including finals week, and for at least one dining hall to be open twenty-four hours a day during breaks and long weekends. According to Wells, a similar resolution was passed last year, but neither Hofstra University nor Lackmann Food Services have followed through. This resolution was passed by the Senate.
The next resolution was submitted by Senator Cody Heintz, and dealt with the coverage of the SGA debates. The resolution asks “with the help from The Chronicle, students will be able to see and hear the debates through outlets such as posting videos on YouTube and/or Facebook and live blogging questions and responses on Twitter.”
After some debate, the resolution was tabled until next week, so that Heintz can discuss the issue with the SGA elections commission.
A resolution regarding solicitor violations on campus sparked a very heated debate amongst the Senators. OCS Representative Anil Beria, Senator Eric Weber and Senator Heintz submitted a resolution that would assure that any person caught on campus soliciting fliers without permission would be issued a summons and, if the person is caught for a second time, potentially be detained by the Nassau County Police. According to Beria, students have reported seeing solicitors looking into cars and breaking windshield wipers and other car parts. Furthermore, it is illegal to post information about an outside business on University property without permission. SGA President Sean Hutchinson informed Beria that there is already a similar policy in place by OSLA. Therefore, the Senators eventually decided not to pass the resolution, but instead try to educate students on the current policies in place to stop illegal soliciting.
Comptroller Brian Marquis’ report reminded the Senate (and clubs) that SGA has started accepting proposals for budget weekend and that the last day they will be accepted is March 26. Please email these to [email protected].
Academic Affairs Chairman Luke Miedreich announced that Diversity Day would be March 24. This will include performances and free food.
To end the meeting, SGA President Sean Hutchinson gave the Senate a preview of the new SGA Think Campaign site. It is to be a place for discussion and to raise awareness on campus and can be accessed at http://www.hofstra.edu/StudentAffairs/sga/sga_think.html.
Student Government Association Senators debate legislation at their weekly meeting on Tuesday in the Student Center Greenhouse. (Sean M. Gates/The Chronicle)
