BYLAWS
SGA held an executive session during their meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 3, and the Trinitonian was escorted from the room. SGA President Omar Ratrut and SGA Vice President Madelyn Stovall later told the Trinitonian that SGA made changes to the bylaws regarding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion under significant pressure from the federal government. Ratrut and Stovall said that SGA went into executive session due to topic sensitivity, and they wanted to protect the voice of the senators. Ratrut and Stovall reiterated SGA’s commitment to representing all Trinity students in its actions.
“So while the language may change, our positioning and attitudes toward inclusion and belonging remain the same,” Ratrut said.
Senators voted on the changes to the bylaws, and senior Senator Alex Brown abstained on the first vote. The second change was unanimous.
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Senators chose committees to participate in after the bylaw voting. SGA created a committee on first-year elections, with sophomore Senator Nellie Clark, senior Senator Sabrina Cinque, sophomore Senator Sydney Barner, Chief of Staff Bocar Diagana, Senator Brown and junior Senator Camryn Sperling. They will be helping set up elections for the Class of 2029 senators.
SGA then delegated committee assignments during the meeting.
- Dining, headed by Senator Clark
- Sustainability, headed by Senator Barner, which are both adhoc.
- Collaborations, headed by Collaborations Chair Julio Melara
- Communications, headed by Communications Chair Eve Slemp
- Finance, headed by Vice President Stovall
- Constitutional Review, headed by Judicial Chair Odinakachukwu Aneji
- Inclusion and Belonging, headed by Inclusion and Belonging Chair Ayesha Farrkh
CLIMATE CHECK
Senator Cinque raised a concern brought to her by a first-year that the ice-cream machine is out of order. She said that she will be reaching out to the Resident District Manager of Chartwells at Trinity, Chase Taylor.
Sophomore Senator Eva Smith talked about a problem with skunks on campus. The smell was especially bad at night, and she said it has kept people awake. SGA will be reaching out to Ernesto Gonzalez, director of facilities operations, to fix this problem.
Odinakachukwu Aneji brought up the problem of the City Vista crosswalk being out of order, leading to dangerous conditions for students. SGA acknowledged the problem, but President Ratrut said the university was unable to do anything as it’s a city problem. They are in communication with the university about the situation. Trinity University Police Department is providing crosswalk assistance from 8 to 10 a.m. and encouraging students to detour to Devine Road while the issue is being resolved.
Sophomore Cole Robinson was given the floor, where he raised concerns about the amount of birds that collide with and are killed by windows on campus. He asked SGA to implore the university to address the problem. Senator Clark is leading the committee in charge of this discussion.
