Rowan Student Government Association (SGA) met for the first time this academic year on Monday, September 17, Eynon Ballroom on the second floor of the Student Center.

Being the first meeting, it was a lot of getting to know the new e-board members and their plans for the year. One thing of importance was the idea of bringing Spruce Street and Harbor Park to Rowan.

The new AVP of Facilities and Operations, Robert Emmanuel, wants to bring the idea of lights, hammocks and relaxation to Rowan.

“We have a beautiful campus but we lack something as traditional as that,” Emmanuel said. “The way they make [Harbor Park] beautiful is through Adirondack chairs, hammocks and lighting. The Robinson Green is the closest thing Rowan has to an academic quad.”

Emmanuel said the plan is for students to be able to enjoy the outdoors at Rowan and make the campus even more beautiful. He believes the programmable lights and seating will make for a great addition to the campus.

Another big point during the meeting was the new MarketPlace. Resident District Manager, Elizabeth Jordan, talked about the ups and downs of the new marketplace.

Some of those things included 40% of meals on campus are eaten in the marketplace, meals increased to 4,700 prepared a day and 90% of the orders were used with meal exchanges.

Jordan also addressed the “issues” with the app. She said that there is no faulty problems with the app, rather it is simply a volume issue with a mass amount of orders coming in and making wait times longer. They’re also working on making sure no meals get stolen, because right now all they rely on is the honor system.

The last big item on the agenda came from the new AVP of Student Affairs, Michael Webster. He is in the beginning stages of finding a way for students to do charitable deeds (or donations) to get rid of or lower parking fines.

As of now only three other colleges have this plan in place but Webster thinks it could be good to bring it to Rowan.

“Essentially what you would do is donate a certain amount (of product) and that would qualify you to either get the ticket wiped out, or reduced in price,” Webster said.

He said the idea just recently came up last week to public safety and they’re actually in support of the idea. Most of the donations, if not all of them, would go to benefit “The Shop” at Rowan.

SGA meets every other week in the Eynon Ballroom in the Student Center. The next meeting will take place on Monday, October 1 at 7 p.m.

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