The semester’s second Student Government Association (SGA) senate meeting held one election, passed three by-law revisions, and addressed student dietary concerns. 

The approximately hour and a half-long meeting was held on Sept. 30, in the Eynon Ballroom of the Chamberlain Student Center. 

During the meeting, unopposed SGA candidate Tamyah Crafton won her elected position for Assistant Vice President (AVP) of Governmental Relations, after an introductory presentation and a promise to ensure all student voices are heard and all needs met.  

“I pride myself on being honorable and trustworthy,” said Crafton. “My drive is to make student life better for all, and to make Rowan a place where everyone feels safe and respected.”

Directly after a five-minute discussion and voting process, SGA President Zackary Brown congratulated Crafton on her elected position of AVP of Government Relations and then shifted the meeting to the by-law revisions the student government was proposing.

In the end, all three by-law changes addressed at the meeting were passed by a majority vote of student organization senators. 

The first by-law revision was presented by Ezekiel Abrams, SGA’s executive vice president.

Newly formed clubs must now submit their organization request form, roster, and their club’s constitution to ProfLink.

Prior to this change, at least 10 member signatures were required to conceive a club; post-change, fifteen is the new minimum.

“A lot of clubs already tend to have more than fifteen members, this is for the one-or-two outliers that don’t fit this requirement,” said Abrams. “Just to make sure we’re more rigorous in terms of the process of requirements from respective clubs.”

Abrams stated that SGA understands this might act as a “barrier” for clubs, however, he said this by-law change is not the “end-all-be-all.”

“This will not be a retroactive thing, where we go back and make all current clubs have fifteen members,” said Abrams. “If a club might fall under a requirement, we’ll address that on a case-by-case basis. This is specifically moving forward for future clubs that want to be affiliated with SGA.”

The next revision made it so clubs with Tier 1 funding and above were required to attend SGA senate meetings.

As stated within the by-law section, “This means that clubs with an allocated budget below or equal to the designated Tier 0 amount will not be required to attend Senate. In this case, the Senator position responsibilities will become only SGA relations, meaning the student in the role will be responsible only for maintaining/overseeing the organizations standing in accordance with the Club Accountability Policy,” 

Prior to this, Tier 1 clubs were not obligated to attend these meetings. 

The third and final revision was a title edit. “The AVP of Facilities and Operations” is now “The AVP of Facilities, Operations, and Sustainability,” which came with no changes in duty. 

After the approval of these by-laws, the floor became open to general questions and concerns. 

Three out of four students who spoke during this segment brought up dietary concerns not accommodated by Rowan’s meal plans. 

One speaker addressed the issue of there being a high Indian population on campus yet no culturally significant food for them; another student similarly addressed a lack of halal food provided by Rowan.

However, freshman James Flocco, an exploratory studies major, shared his experience in finding a lack of celiac-friendly food.

Flocco said his first month on campus has been a struggle to find safe food to eat– still having to purchase his own gluten-free food despite owning an all-access meal plan. 

“The only resource that there is for gluten-free bread on campus is in the Student Center at Bowl Life, which is closed on the weekends,” said Flocco.

Jennifer Campbell, marketing manager for Gourmet Dining Services, LLC, was called upon by President Brown to address Flocco’s concern.

“First things first, anybody who has allergy issues, meet with our campus dietitian. It’s a free service,” said Campbell. “Second, you have two locations, Bowl Life and Gr8, so you have something at any time.”

Campbell went on to say students can also contact Gourmet Dining Services through their feedback option on the Rowan website and finished her answer by stating that allergy experts were available at all food locations for student reference.

Flocco said that since he’s been on campus, the amenities for people who have celiac are “not sufficient.” Until he met with the dietitian on campus, he was unaware Holly Pointe had celiac-friendly bread. 

“The bread that they do have is so scarce, and they barely refill it,” said Flocco.

Flocco said Campbell was helpful, especially talking to her one-on-one, however, he felt the dietitian he’s constantly being referred to can only “do so much.”

Concerned with the implications this has for students who can only afford to eat within their meal plan, Flocco said he feels it’s “discriminatory” for people with allergies, especially for those heavily reliant on financial aid. 

Flocco claims, that even with his all-access meal plan, it’s hard for him to find the necessary food to not trigger his gluten allergy. 

“The real problem is that Rowan simply does not have the logistics to keep up with all of these students at the same time. The wait times to eat are ridiculously long, especially on the weekends when nothing is open, except for three specific places.” 

The next senate meeting will take place on Oct. 21.