Monday night, Rowan University’s Student Government Association (SGA) met to discuss several topics. The meeting was held in Tohill Theater in Bunce Hall, as the Holiday Helper Auction took place in the meeting’s normal location in the Eynon ballroom.

The major topic of the evening was a bylaw change being voted on at the meeting, which dealt with the alteration of bylaw number 503-01. The main change would be felt on the SGA Accountability Board, where the Student Trustee and Alternate Trustee would replace the two executive committee members in all situations. The SGA accountability board is meant to be a panel convened for purposes of discipline for executive board members who fail to meet their responsibilities.

The bylaw changes reversed an earlier decision by SGA in years past which swapped executive committee members in for the trustees. Speaking after the meeting, AVP of Governmental Relations Rachel Benassutti said that re-adding the trustees was a necessary correction.

“When issues arise within SGA, we felt like it might be a conflict of interest and bias to have executive committee members that are also working alongside a member that would be on trial,” Benassutti said. “It is kind of like a hearing where the nonvoting and voting members go through a process, and they try to determine how to handle a situation, and we felt like the best way to remove that bias is to have people that are really not as linked. So the trustees have a whole separate job description than we have in SGA, and they kind of are just a good, unbiased approach to the thing.”

Other business attended to at the meeting included a presentation about applications for the Peer Referral Orientation Staff (PROS) and a vote on a new petitioning club.

The PROS presentation was given by Graduate Coordinator Danielle Davis. She said that applications open on the 15 of this month, and will stay open through Dec. 6. The form is available on ProfLink. Davis also said that anyone with further questions can contact her at her email address, which is davisd2@rowan.edu.

The other major piece of business dealt with the status of the Rowan American Student Dental Association (ASDA) Pre-Dental Chapter. The club was applying for petitioning status and was given time to present their case for membership. Afterward, the members were asked to leave the room. A small debate took place, after which, a vote on the matter was held. Rowan ASDA Pre-Dental was voted in and gained petitioning status.

Loulia Al Bitar, a member of the club at the meeting said she was thrilled with the results. For her, this has been a long time coming.

“[I’m] so excited,” Al Bitar said. “We’ve been waiting for this since my sophomore year. I’ve been trying to start this and I’ve been waiting for the right moment to get it going, by talking with my advisor and seeing how many students are interested.”

When asked about her club’s goals for the future, Al Bitar said it was pretty simple.

“Our goal is to keep on encouraging people to join the dental field. I think it’s such an amazing and beautiful field to join, and I think this club will encourage more people to be interested in it, and see what it’s all about,” she said.

The next meeting will be held on Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Eynon Ballroom.

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