The following covers the meeting on Aug. 28.

President Ty Tinker, senior, began the meeting by reminding the Senate that SGA is looking to fill multiple positions, both in the Senate and the Cabinet, and that they should encourage people to run.

CLIMATE CHECK

Sophomore senator Esther Omegba brought up concerns raised by students about the quality of food at Mabee Dining Hall. More specifically, that the quality of the food is lesser than that of last year.

Sophomore senator Ben Falcon agreed, explaining that he has heard similar complaints about how the pasta bar is no longer available. When he asked a Mabee employee about it, he was told it was not popular enough to be reinstated.

Senior Josephine Van Houten, chair of the dining committee within SGA, reached out to Charles Robles, food service director for Aramark, but she had not heard back at the time of the meeting.

Adviser David Tuttle, dean of students, met with Robles earlier that day and said that Robles had heard positive feedback about the changes. He suggested that if SGA wanted more feedback, they reach out to Robles and ask him to come to a meeting in the future.

After the conversation about Dining Services, Falcon asked if he could open the floor to a discussion about LGBTQ+ issues on campus and how SGA can better address those issues.

Sophomore Morgan Rosen, liaison to the Gender-Inclusive Hall, explained that the hall has been a good opportunity and that members of the hall have had success in handling problems internally. However, she explained that the hall would like to create a more direct line to Residential Life and other offices that may be beneficial to the community, as well as take cues from other affinity halls on campus.

Falcon continued discussion with the Name-change Memorandum, a policy that allows students to choose to declare their chosen name, which will then appear on class rosters and email portals, among other things.

However, many students fear outing themselves to their parents and risk being exposed to dead-names, according to Falcon, especially if they can’t choose where their chosen name occurs.

Tuttle suggested SGA reach out to the Registrar’s Office and Jim Bradley, Chief Information Officer.

Senator Omegba suggested SGA work and plan events with different organizations to promote a better understanding of SGA, as well as to better understand their constituents.

Adviser Jamie Thompson, director of Student Involvement, asked if the diversity, equity and inclusion committee still existed within SGA. Thompson suggested the group convene and include some ideas Senator Omegba brought up.

The Senate and Cabinet took a short break to eat Raising Cane’s. Earlier in the meeting, Tinker reminded them that having food from an outside vendor is not commonplace and that Aramark had made an exception for this meeting.

PIPELINE

President Tinker presented the idea of a “pipeline” for different projects the group works on, both in their committees and as a whole group. Tinker said the goal is to focus on implementation.

The senators and cabinet members briefly worked in groups on this “pipeline,” a spreadsheet that includes information about the projects, including members involved, description of the projects and main contacts.

FETTY WAP

Thompson updated SGA on the official details of the Welcome Week Concert and Fetty Wap’s cancellation. She explained that it was not anticipated or planned and that Student Programming Board is now working with Fetty Wap’s agent to figure out next steps. The funds set aside for his payment have not been used yet, and they are trying to get money back for expenses.

TABLING

President Tinker announced that SGA will start tabling, but neither hours or days have been confirmed.