As Stockton students enter the homestretch of the spring semester, Student Senate relayed their plans for a successful finish at their March 26 meeting in Atlantic City’s Fannie Lou Hamer Event Room. Senate President Andrea Sandoval called the Senators to order at 4:30 p.m. ready to discuss the overall agenda moving forward.

After a warm acknowledgment of Women’s History Month, Sandoval reminded any student who did not talk with their preceptor to do so on April 3. The predominant topic of this meeting was the new Senator elections, and Sandoval noted that the election dates and dates of interest meetings are located on the Student Senate page of the Stockton University website, and the Student Senate Instagram page, @ospreysenate. Her last comment consisted of excitement for President Bertolino’s Inauguration, happening on April 12. “I encourage all of you to attend,” Sandoval said, “as it is open to everyone. It will be at 1 p.m. in the Campus Center Event Room. It’s going to be an exciting event, as this will be the sixth president to be inaugurated here at Stockton University. There isn’t a dress code: just wear all your Stockton merch.” Student Senate’s Faculty Advisor Jeff Wakeman then approached the podium to inform student leaders that they will be receiving a message on OspreyHub in regards to being greeters and processors at the Inauguration. If a student chooses to be apart of the event, they will be entered in giveaways to win t-shirts as a way to commemorate the celebration.

Vice President Garrett Testut then provided his report, first thanking Kaden Ryan and the Finance Committee “for their hard work lately on reviewing the last of the funding requests and starting the very long process of crafting next years budget. Finance consistently has a full plate, and they’ve done an excellent job this year.” Testut also wanted to remind club leaders that the next Inter-Club Council meeting is on April 16 at 4:30 p.m. He urged leaders to show up as this meeting will discuss the tentative budget for next year and clubs will be allowed to ask questions about the numbers or argue for or against the data presented. Testut shared that he and President Sandoval “had their monthly meeting with Dr. Joe and Dr. Sass to provide updates about the Senate’s ongoing projects and upcoming events: mainly our upcoming elections.” He concluded his remarks by sharing that the hosts of the Student Involvement Awards on April 19 will be him and President Sandoval, and as this event “highlights all of the hard work and dedication from our student leaders and our clubs,” Testut invited everybody to nominate deserving organizations, leaders, and faculty advisors.

Student Affairs Chair, Tianna Rosario, then took the floor to share the information that resulted from her committee’s meeting with the Chartwells and Follet Team. “We discussed the possibility of opening the Dunkin’ Express Line, and they said that it could be possible and that they’re working to find solutions for the long wait times.” Rosario also brought up to Chartwells and Follet the problem of a lack of dining during the late hours of finals week, to which a solution of “extending the hours of the food court from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.” was reached. Rosario said that this will be a trial run for this semester, not a permanent change to Stockton. Student Affairs’ report was concluded with the book store’s entrance by the Game Room now being in use, as well as a thank you to the participants of the Sweets for Suggestions Event that ran from March 18-March 20.

The Academic Affairs Committee has been busy, as Senator Ariel Graziano has been meeting with Dr. Spaulding regarding Banner and it’s Plan Ahead feature. An issue with this service has been its advertisement of unavailable classes, and the next meeting to hopefully resolve this issue happened on March 27. A meeting is also scheduled to improve the Tutoring Center’s service. Senator Gianna Terpolilli also met with Dean Arnold from the School of Health Sciences to discuss “the various 4+1 programs being worked on: the Bachelor’s of Science in Health Science and Public Health with a +1 in the Master’s of Public Health, as well as a Bachelor’s of Science in Public Health and a Master’s in Health Administration.” The concentration in Communications for these degrees will also be changed to a minor to increase schedule flexibility and remove some science requirements. Chairperson Nana Amma Otoo reiterated the academic changes made at the Board of Trustees meeting back on February 21, prior to urging students to complete the preceptor surveys sent to their emails in order to receive an earlier registration time.

With Governmental Affairs Chair Timothy Knoll absent, his fellow committee members stepped in to further the importance of attending interest meetings for the elections, share the upcoming video project on Affirmative Action, and note their attempts of getting the up to date Constitution up on the Stockton website. President Sandoval then read off Knoll’s minutes, which consisted of how Senators will be able to run for the upcoming academic year: “Senators must attend one of the interest meetings and get 75 signatures to be eligible.” Interest meetings are in Meeting Room 3 on March 28 at 4:30 p.m., March 29 at 6 p.m., April 1 at 4:30 p.m., April 2 at 6 p.m., and April 3 at 6 p.m. “Meet the Candidates” is also set to happen on April 9.

Public Relations Chair, Imani Bennett, reported on their collaboration with the Stockton Entertainment Team for the Puppy Yoga event that occurred on March 5. Bennett highlighted the successes of of Sweets for Suggestions and the Spirit Week that happened March 15-March 22, and promoted the “Day in the Life of a Senator” videos on the Senate’s TikTok @ospreysenate. Currently, Diversity and Inclusion Chair Shane Moore and President Sandoval are the faces of this series.

Moore then shared Diversity and Inclusion’s report, beginning with the emails sent to the Learning Access Program’s Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities, Patricia McConville. These emails discussed the potential inclusion of a Sensory Room in the renovated library, and Moore will be in contact with Director Anthony Thomas to try and further this initiative. Senator Thalia Arce, who recently attended the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference in Washington D.C., also plans to set in motion new events that would follow the principles of that seminar.

Kaden Ryan of the Finance Committee in his report reminded club leaders that budget requests are due on April 1, as the Committee has only received 19 submissions but “wants to make sure everybody gets their money.” The final full meeting on April 23 will be when the budget is voted upon. Ryan then shared the budget requests that have already been passed: $1,499.99 for History Club, $1,000 for the Great Outdoors Club, $1,499.99 for African Student Organization, $1,499.99 for First Ospreys, and for the Muslim Student Association, the Black Muslims in A.C. Program was allotted $1,300 while the Black History Ramadan Program received $1,200. The Stockton Democrats received $600, the International Student Organization got $700, and $650 was given to the Bengali Student Association.

Treasurer Jeremiah Martin of the Geology Club then approached the Senate to explain their request of $2,000. Geology Club had to come back to Senate for more funding because, as Martin stated, “when we do a budget request, we base this off of last year’s prices [and] obviously with inflation, prices change.” In spite of the club’s fundraising and merchandising, the vehicle quotes for the 15 passenger car that takes club members out west tripled in price. “This put us $3,000 down from what we originally proposed,” Martin said, prior to explaining their attempts to fundraise $1,000 for the remainder of the semester. Their request would therefore meet the parameters that would allow students and club members to continue to experience a trip that has always been free with the exception of food. Essentially, this request is being made “to keep this trip’s integrity, keep it as a good, fun, educational experience that kind of rounds out your Stockton University experience.”

Ryan then suggested that the Senate reward Geology Club the full $3,000 to fund their trip. “As to why we’re doing this, this is not something we typically do, but we have increased the amount in our supplemental account right now, so it’s not going to much and we’re able to help…out,” Ryan informed, sympathetic over the increase in shuttle prices, and to set this plan in motion, the Senate voted to approve the amended amount of money. This motion was passed unanimously as was the request of $3,000.

As previously mentioned, the final Student Senate meeting will be held on April 23 at 4:30 p.m. in the Townsend Residential Life Center. You can attend in person or virtually through the Zoom link on OspreyHub, Be on the lookout for Senate updates on TikTok and Instagram, @ospreysenate.