Rowan University Student Government Association (SGA) held its third meeting of the semester on March 3. 

The meeting started with an address from Drew Tinnin, Ph.D, about the opening of the new Chamberlain Student Center expansion, which will be officially cutting the ribbon on March 12. 

“We are very excited to welcome you to your new space and hope you can join us for the ribbon cutting or stop by sometime next week so you can see the awesome new space that we have for you as students,” said Tinnin.

With the role of assistant vice president of diversity, equity, & inclusion (DEI) currently being vacant, SGA President Zackary Brown has appointed himself interim assistant vice president and addressed the current state of DEI, reminding senate attendees that SGA will remain advocates for DEI. 

“I want to kind of just reaffirm that we [SGA] are fierce proponents and advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion. And while names may change, the mission does not,” said Brown. 

Brown continued to reassure that even in the event of a name change to the role, the resources and events will be maintained and stay the same. 

“Even internally as SGA, we are considering changing the title of this position, but the resources will be maintained regardless of the title difference,” said Brown. 

Series two and three elections took place from Feb. 25-27 and finished with Justus French continuing his role as recording secretary. Laura Shaban will continue her role as assistant vice president of academic affairs, and Tamyah Crafton will continue her role as assistant vice president of governmental relations. 

Freshman Alex Starick beat opponent Freshman Robert Abatemarco for the position of chief commissioner of community standards with 71% of the votes going to Starick. 

Club senators then voted on a new Student Financial Control Board (SFCB) member Kashish Patel. All motions were approved and Patel will be on the SFCB. 

Two clubs were petitioning for charter at the meeting. One of which was the Jesus Club which wasn’t requesting any funding, just a prof link. This raised the question from Senator for American Institute of Chemical Engineers (ACHIE) Youssef Badaoui, who wondered where they got their funding from and if they will need SGA’s funding in the future. 

“Is there any additional assistance from an economic standpoint that you guys would need in the future,” said Badoui.

To which the secretary of the club Sarah Forsman replied that they don’t need SGA funding because Churches nationwide fund them. 

“Right now we really don’t see a need for that, because we have had multiple churches come to us and they’re like, ‘We want to fund you guys in different ways,'” said Forsman. 

In the end, Jesus Club was charted and will receive their ProfLink. 

The second club petitioning to be charted was the Nepalese Student Association, a club to help foster a community for the rising number of Nepalese students at Rowan University. 

The club was requesting $500 in funding to help fund their events. 

The biggest skeptics of the club’s potential charter came from Yana Chiragkumar-Shah, a senator from the International Club. Chiragkumar-Shah believes since the International Club and South Asian Students Association (SASA) strives to make events for Nepalese students, there is no need for a separate charted club. 

“I understand their culture, but I think the International Club or SASA could easily collaborate with them. They can have their festivals because SASA is very inclusive of people from everywhere, and even like growing SJB allows students and communities and clubs to organize their culture their events, so I don’t think that there is a specific need for this club,” said Chiragkumar-Shah. 

The statement was met with a resounding disagreement from the senators, including Freshman Class senator Alex Starick who empathized with the international students from Nepal.

“Coming to College is a daunting thing from two hours away, and I can tell you, it was scary coming here on my own. Imagine coming from another country and not knowing anyone here, the fact that they are reaching out to those people and welcoming them and giving them the resources on campus, helping them adjust, and everything is truly amazing,” said Starick.

The club ended up getting chartered with a near-unanimous placard vote.

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