SGA discusses allocations and deadlines at club representative meeting

By Avery Slavin

Asst. News Editor

SGA held their first Club Representative Meeting of the semester, followed by a senate meeting, on March 10.

Vice President Shubham Valand presented the updated organization allocations for FY27, explaining some clubs have moved either up or down in their allocation groups due to factors such as the number of members, event participation, attendance at required Club Representative Meetings and organization officer training sessions, proper registration in Campus Groups, and the use (or lack of use) of current funding.

Treasurer Khoa Bùi said for events held throughout the remainder of this semester, every club will have the deadline of March 26 to submit funding requests and will have until April 3 to make purchase requests.

Valand then allowed members of the meeting to fill out a survey about a proposed new initiative of his called the Serenity Center, a place for commuter students to be able to relax in between classes, complete with massage chairs and napping pods.

President César Matos said, “Out of all the surveys and links and QR codes that we have given you, this is the most important one, because the more people we get [filling out] the survey, the more we’re able to go up to administrators and be like, ‘Look! We have this amount of people who are interested in having this on campus.’”

Club representatives made some announcements to the rest of the attendees before the meeting was concluded, including the Fashion Club introducing their second “Trashion Show,” FSAB encouraging students to join the general board for event planning, and Volunteers of FSU announcing an end-of-semester party. 

Matos told the club representatives the next meeting they must attend will be the Administrators’ Forum, at which they will “communicate with all the administrators on campus.” SGA intends to collect as many questions and concerns as possible.

Matos added the administrators will do something a little different during this meeting, and ask questions to the students about how they feel about certain campus-related topics. This meeting will be held on April 7.

Following these announcements, SGA transitioned into their senate meeting.

After emphasizing some points discussed in the Club Representative Meeting, such as nominations for all SGA roles and the upcoming Administrators’ Forum, the senate heard from Matthew Wexler, treasurer of Aspiring Health Professionals (AHP), requesting funds for an event in early May.

AHP requested $1,080 for a CPR training event, which would cover costs of the instructor, the equipment, and the certification cards. It will be open to the general student body, but limited to 12 students. 

The motion to approve the funding request passed unanimously. 

SGA then began the process of appointing new senators, including Cameron Higbie, Bri Camilli, and Glanzer Mar, as well as the reappointment of Senator Cia Rosado.

Diversity and Inclusion Officer Ana Julia Ribeiro was also appointed as a senator after stepping down from her position. She said she would still be carrying out some diversity and inclusion orders of business until the end of the semester.

Senator Merlin Clive was appointed to the role of diversity and inclusion officer for the remainder of the semester. 

All six were sworn in by Matos.

The final order of business was to approve the name change of the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) within SGA to the Student Affairs Review Committee. Valand explained the reason for this change was there were multiple SACs throughout the University in individual departments, SGA, and in the Massachusetts State Government.

“As to not create any confusion, our Student Affairs Committee members have decided to change the name, but we still need approval from the senate to change the name to Student Affairs Review Committee,” Valand said.

Parliamentarian Grant Alleyne said he didn’t “see a point in changing the name,” as SACs were prevalent at other universities, too.

“Is there that much confusion between all these SACs if there’s other SACs in other student governments as well?” he asked.

SGA Advisor Rachel Spezia said not every student government has a SAC, and in this case, it is specific to Framingham State.

Matos added it was a branding issue as well, saying, “I want to make sure that when we’re referring to something pertaining to SGA, it’s very clear that it’s pertaining to SGA. Right now, when you say something is pertaining to SAC, which one is it?”

Matos clarified the name change does not change the function of the SAC. It just encompasses more of what SGA does, which is reviewing items like their own constitution bylaws, other clubs’ constitutions, and any student concerns.

The motion passed unanimously.

As for officer reports, Matos announced a collaboration that SGA will be undertaking with Outing Club, referred to by Matos as the "Warren Center Takeover.

“I want it to feel like a celebration of everything SGA has been able to do [this year],” Matos told the senate. 

The event will consist of kayaking, ropes courses, arts and crafts, and enjoying food and beverages together.

Matos said he wants to propose a new tradition for SGA to hold something like this in the Warren Center every year and expand the number of organizations with which they collaborate. 

Events Coordinator Alix Ayoub announced the date for Spicy Bingo, which will be on April 16.