Rowan University’s Student Government Association’s (SGA) penultimate senate meeting of the semester was marked by supplemental club funding requests, new club petitions and proposed bylaw amendments in the Chamberlain Student Center’s Eynon Ballroom, last Monday night.
Supplemental funding totaling $1399.83 was approved by the senate and will be given to AIAA, the Rowan University Chapter of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, as they enter the 20th Annual Cessna/Raytheon Missile Systems Student Design/Build/Fly competition in June.
The competition is host to over 75 teams from six continents, including teams from MIT, Purdue, Yale and UCLA. The aim is for each team to launch their rockets, with a ten pound payload, as close to 10,000 feet as possible. Members of Rowan’s AIAA, Tyler Harlow, a sophomore electrical and computer engineering major, and Bobby Samuel, a junior mechanical engineering major, spoke to senate members about their funding needs.
“These teams pour thousands of dollars into their rockets, and to keep our budget as low as the one presented, has been an accomplishment within itself,” said Harlow. “Many of us have actually used our own money to fund this prototype and now we come before you today to ask you for your help.”
Supplemental funding is given by SGA when there is emergent or unforeseen expenses that the club needs covered. Since the club has several on-going projects, the club’s funding has been stretched thin and they were in need of additional funding to cover the cost of building materials for the final rocket.
“The reason why we could spend a lot less money and produce the same project is because we put our own sweat and blood into this,” added Samuel.
NutrAbilities and the Secondary Ed. Club were approved to SGA. NutrAbilities is a club centered around working with children with disabilities to help them establish a basic nutrition education that will have a lasting impact in their lives. On the heels of the newly established nutrition major at Rowan, this will give students first hand experience working with students in the special needs population.
The Secondary Ed. Club aims to prepare students who are interested in middle school, high school and collegiate teaching. The club will provide the sharing of lesson plan ideas during meetings, lesson plan workshops and guest lecturers, to ready those students for careers in secondary education.
Student Trustee Kunal Patel proposed amendments to SGA’s constitution because he has found redundancies in the duties of the Student Trustee and Alternate Trustee. The amendments are based on redefining the role of the Student Trustee.
“One thing that we have noticed year after year is that the question arises: Why are the Student Trustees a part of the Executive Committee?” said Patel. “It was this year that we finally took it upon ourselves to ask that question and look at what other institutions are doing to really look at how we could better service the needs of students.”
Patel is proposing that the powers of maintaining accountability over the executive committee will be given to the President of SGA, and the Vice President will now oversee the accountability of the President of SGA, adding a system of checks and balances. This move will streamline the SGA’s functions and will save valuable time, said Patel. The Student Trustees will no longer be sitting at the Executive Board’s table, but Patel assured the senate they will still serve the students.
“We will be sitting with you all, we will be listening, taking notes and being actively engaged in what the student body of the undergraduate population is saying,” said Patel.
Senate members will vote on these amendments during the next SGA meeting on Monday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. in the Chamberlain Student Center’s Eynon Ballroom.
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