The Student Government senate has approved last meeting’s addendum to their probation policy and re-chartered an old campus club.

On Monday, an addendum was passed limiting the probationary period of clubs to 90 days.

Originally, a club had to wait until the end of the academic year to leave probation and gain access to its funds.

“One club who was on probation brought it up last year,” said Kiley McCulloch, executive vice president of SGA.

“They had to wait until the end of the year even though they were on top of all their stuff,” she said.

After a club earns eight points, they come up for de-charterment, and if they are spared, they are put on probation for 90 days.

One organization, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), has already accumulated seven points and asked the senate to revoke two of them.

Elizabeth Ambacher, representative of SAE, took the floor to explain how the club earned so many in such a short period of time.

“We had a brand new e-board this semester, and there was a lot of miscommunication,” Ambacher said.

“We just need a little bit of wiggle room to access our supplementary funds and make sure we have good standing for the rest of the academic year,” she said.

The motion was denied in a senate vote. The group received supplemental funds totaling $2,500 earlier this semester.

Monday’s meeting wasn’t all about probation and the process of removing a club’s charter. An old club, the Early Childhood Education Club, received its charter back from SGA.

The club’s charter was removed two years ago after failing to find an advisor but was revitalized and is no longer a petitioning club.

“We’ve been working hard to meet the requirements and go above and beyond,” said Kaitlin Bosch, president of the ECEC.

The club held its first Play Day for Rowan, a service event letting Glassboro children come to Rowan to play for the day. The event featured balloons and prizes with snacks provided by Rowan.

The club has grown to at least 50 members and focuses on childhood development.

For more information on SGA and its member clubs visit rowan.edu/sga.

Friday, Nov. 19 marked the first meeting of the State Municipal Relations Committee of the SGA. Students and staff volunteering for the committee were placed into three subcommittees: public relations, local outreach and student investigation.

Three officers were also appointed to run the committee: Ashley Super as chair, Joe Major as vice chair and Jill Steier as student trustee, who will work closely with SGA and committee members.

The committee plans to investigate student concerns and reach out to the Glassboro community to create solutions to those concerns.

“We already met with (Thomas) Gallia and are going to mark out ‘dark spots’ on campus where there’s bad lighting,” said Ashley Super, committee chair. “When we fix the lighting, it’ll be safer when people walk home and address a lot of complaints.”

As part of the committee’s public relations strategy, they plan to release a “party responsibly” campaign reminding students to be conscious of the surrounding community when partying off campus.

The sub-committee with the most impact for students involves the investigation of student concerns.

The student investigation sub-committee plans to release information to students regarding some of Glassboro’s more obscure citations and unwritten rules about throwing parties.

The division plans to offer guidance on how to react properly to police procedures, and ask local officers to come and talk to students.

“We want students to feel safe whether they are on or off campus,” said Joe Major, vice chair of the SMRC. “When they see a police officer, they shouldn’t feel threatened.”

The outreach committee plans to communicate with the borough, but it also seeks to connect with other schools to find out what they are doing about off-campus antics.

Special envoys will be sent SGA meetings on other campuses in an attempt to increase communication between universities.

“I do feel well-represented,” said Anthony Carchidi, a sophomore civil engineering major. “I trust that if my fellow students will reach out to students and get a better understanding and present it to the community.”

The next SMRC meeting will be Friday, Dec. 3 and is open to all students.

In an unannounced, closed session vote by the Student Senate, Wilmer Castro was elected as the new SGA Vice President, defeating his only opponent, former junior class Vice President, Noel Pendergrass.

Castro replaced Nicole Mershon, who had stepped down last semester not long after being elected. Mershon cited a scheduling conflict.

The SGA agenda for the meeting did not include notice of the closed session.

According to the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act, “To close a session, a public body must identify the exemption justifying closure and adopt a resolution at an open meeting for which public notice has been given. Public bodies must keep minutes of their closed sessions, and these minutes are not open to the public. A public body must promptly make them available,however, once the necessity for maintaining confidentiality has passed.”

The act also states that the announcement of a closed session must be at least 48 hours in advance.

However, the SGA does not feel that their governing body falls under this act.

“The University counsel informed the SGA last year that the Student Government Association is a separate organization from the University, and therefore does not operate under the same open meetings laws,” said Elizabeth Palmer, SGA President. “However, the minutes of the Senate meeting are public; therefore, all items discussed during Closed Session will be available in the SGA Office Monday the 21st.”

University general counsel, Barbara Kleva, said that she “could not recall” saying that to SGA. However, based on her interpretation of the Open Public Meetings Act, Kleva does not believe that SGA can be considered a “public governmental function.”

Kleva also said that, to the best of her knowledge, “SGA is a 501(c)(3).”

This means that the SGA is a tax exempt non-profit organization and a separate entity from Rowan University.

Adam Goldstein, Attorney Advocate of the Student Press Law Center, said that SGA would not be subject to the Open Public Meetings Act only if they were “separately incorporated,” which would make them a “private institution.”

During her campaign last semester, Palmer made a point to speak on the importance of shared governance.

“Shared governance is making sure everybody campus is engaged with the decision making process. Not everyone is going to be a decision maker, but it is important for everyone to be involved in decision making process,” she said. “SGA needs to be a respectable, responsible, and resourceful part of Rowan community.”

According to the SGA Web site, SGA is responsible for publicly allocated funds. “Although you may not know it, ALL full-time students at Rowan University give money to the SGA. The SGA is responsible for allocating this money to many clubs as well as many activities that take place regularly on campus.”

According to the final 2009-10 Budget Allocation Statement on the SGA Web site, the SGA allocated $925,000 to various clubs and organizations, including The Whit.

Under OPMA, a public body is, “Any public body of the state, county, or municipal level of government that has legal authority to vote on public matters or to spend public funds.”

“Any SGA should be covered under the Open Public Meetings Act, which includes proper notification of a closed session. An SGA should be promoting openness and transparency, not stifling it,” said American Civil Liberties Union Staff Attorney Bobby Conner.

Conner represented Montclair State University’s student run newspaper The Montclarion in a lawsuit earlier this year, which was filed against MSU’s SGA. The lawsuit was regarding what The Montclarion felt was a lack of transparency and openness on the part of the SGA when regarding public meetings. The lawsuit was filed March 2009 and settled out of court, with the SGA agreeing to open its procedures.

Staff writer Rigo Onofre contributed to this report.