The Student Government Association (SGA) held its third senate meeting of the semester on Nov. 4 in the Eynon Ballroom.
Executive Vice President Ezekiel Abrams conducted the meeting in place of President Zackary Brown, who is expected to be absent for the next two weeks.
Molique Wright, president of the Black Student Union (BSU), opened the meeting with an announcement of a collaborative event between BSU and SGA.
“Day of Conversation,” held on Nov. 6, took place in the Student Center Pit. Wright described the event as a means to bring students together and voice concerns.
“Main purpose is to foster open communication, constructive criticism, and direct feedback between students and university leadership,” said Wright.
Wright welcomed all students to join them in the Student Center Pit, but especially students of color – urging the POC student body to make their voices heard.
“[This] is where BSU and SGA come in, making sure that we’re bridging the gap between us and administrators,” said Wright.
Zobia Bokhari, former assistant vice president (AVP) of student affairs, won her election for the role of AVP of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). They opened the student affairs position on the SGA board.
Bokhari emphasized her experience as AVP of student affairs, being a political science major, and her work for the Rowan Progressives and Muslim Student Association as qualifications for the role.
“I’m someone who comes from a marginalized background. I’m Muslim, both my parents are immigrants, and I grew up in a predominantly white area,” said Bokhari. “It’s always been important to me to create spaces that I didn’t necessarily have growing up.”
Bokhari said she has grown as a person since June when she initially ran for AVP of academic affairs, but said it’s clear now that her skills and passions would better serve DEI.
Other matters addressed during the SGA meeting included Abrams urging clubs to look into point forgiveness for their clubs. Clubs can attain points for problems such as lack of membership or not attending senate meetings.
Clubs with outstanding amounts of points can be subject to funding cuts or disaffiliation with SGA.
Abrams said the current opportunity to roll back points is for students submitting photos to Rowan Digital Works of their club for the yearbook.
“We never want to see the clubs in the red or in positions that are tough for them,” said Abrams. “That’s exactly why we keep advertising it and making sure that clubs are aware that if you’re having these points, you have a way to have these points removed, which is why I worked with the yearbook to create this opportunity.”
The meeting began at 7 p.m. and ended forty minutes later. The next SGA senate meeting will take place Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. in the Eynon Ballroom in the Chamberlain Student Center.
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