By Hayden Sadler
The Student Association and its newly sworn-in members received a presentation about the proposed Greek life office change. In addition to usual club approvals, members of the board also declined a policy proposal.
Student Association President Taiba Azeem first welcomed the four newly elected members — Dipekshya Karki, Carter Mosher, Arshita Pandey and Sumeet Vishwakarma — to the senate Wednesday, March 1. Then, members from various Greek life organizations spoke regarding the proposed move of the Fraternity and Sorority Life offices into another location within the Angell College Center. In addition, the senate also voted on club status for the Galilean Society, an astronomy club, and granted provisional status for the Global Medical Brigade club. A funding request of $305 was also voted on for Her Campus.
Inter-Fraternity Council and Inter-Sorority Association Chairs Deren Purisic and Emma Peer stood before the SA and voiced their — and many other community members’ — complaints about the change in Fraternity and Sorority Life office described in a previous Cardinal Points issue. The current office, which sees more than 500 people a day, is located on the second floor of the Angell College Center. The administrative decision planned to relocate the office into the WQKE — now Quake Productions — office and studio in Burghy’s Den, also located in the ACC.
Members of Greek life voiced their fears for this move, as the new office would offer them nearly one-third of the space that the current office has. Peer and Purisic also discussed the pie-charted results of a survey conducted among members of different fraternities and sororities. According to the forms they sent out, 85.5 % of those who voted viewed the move as “bad,” while 10% said it “may be bad.” A previous Cardinal Points article reports on the issue in more detail.
Since their presentation last week, Peer and Purisic spoke with College President Alexander Enyedi and are no longer required to change office locations.
An astronomy club was also present at the meeting, called the Galilean Society, to seek approval to join the ranks of Plattsburgh’s clubs. The Galilean Society’s request for provisional club status was unanimously approved. The club’s aim is to nurture a love and curiosity for everything related to astronomy, such as the upcoming solar eclipse in April 2024. Present at the meeting was club adviser Lisabeth Kissner, who is the director of the North Country Planetarium. Kissner was previously an adviser for the club, which operated as normal until it was shut down in 2020 due to COVID-19. Meetings will be held every other week for the club. Previously the club embarked on trips to places like Hawaii and the Twin Valleys, an outdoor education center in the Adirondacks. Now that the Senate has approved the club, more trips like the ones of the past are yet again a possibility.
Also unanimously approved was the Global Medical Brigade club’s request for provisional club status. Like the Galilean society, the Global Medical Brigade was a group on campus until COVID hit. The Global Medical Brigade is a club focused on providing medical and clinical assistance in impoverished areas. Previously this has included countries like Greece, Panama, Ghana and Honduras. Approval as a club means the Global Medical Brigade can begin conducting trips on their own, rather than traveling with other chapters of the organization. Payment for the Brigade’s travels has come from their fundraising in the past, but approval as a club may aid their case if they ever requested money for their trips.
Her Campus, a club that was granted permanent status at the meeting the week before, requested $305 for merchandise. The request would cover the online setup fee required for the custom attire as well as other expenses required to get sweatshirts that represent the club. The request was approved unanimously.
SA Vice President Saran Kaba proposed the approval of an SA compensation policy. The policy would clear up confusion about the roles of various positions and encourage senators to schedule and attend their office hours, as well as submit their weekly reports. After deliberation on the proposal and members of the SA seeking to revise the proposal, it was unanimously disapproved by the senate.
Board of Elections Chair Mary Stockman was present to remind members of the senate of the upcoming SA elections, which will be held April 18.
