Suffolk University’s Student Government Association passed an increase of $6 on student activity fees with a near unanimous vote by the student body on Sept. 11.This increase will generate $24,000 in additional funds to student groups on campus.
SGA President Charlie Reyna-Demes dedicated $20,000 to Suffolk’s Performing Arts groups, considering the budget cuts the department is facing, and will gift the remaining $4,000 to theGreek Council in order to support their events.
This increase will be in effect by the next academic year, making the original $115 activities fee rise up to $121 in students’ tuition.
“I find it incredibly unfortunate that a vote like today’s even had to happen,” said Joey Pisani, senator-at-large.”I do not think that it should have come to the point of SGA needing to bail out the administration for continuing to fail to properly fund departments on this campus. The fact that PAO groups had to come here and sit here to fight for their funding that should just be there and guaranteed is an incredible issue.”
Some of the senators worry that SGA will have to continue raising the activities fee so students can support the groups when it should be the administration taking more of an initiative.
“If we stayed on course, we would be doing this every year, and that’s not sustainable,” said Reyna-Demes. “My goal is working with the administration to navigate through this tough year going forward, being a little bit stronger about holding them accountable to some of the stuff they kind of decided for this year in terms of the budget.”
Other solutions were suggested by senators, such as moving money around or having the PAO groups run additional fundraisers. However, some members of the senate who are also members of PAO groups felt that additional fundraising wouldn’t be as efficient, specifically SGA Vice President Kayleigh Carey.
“[This increase]is going to help us get back on track for the next school year, and make sure that those clubs that their budgets are getting unfunded, that they are funded through us,” said Carey.
Following the vote, the meeting moved on to the topic of SGA’s biannual concert. Tickets to see headliner A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, will be sold for $15 starting at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, at the Student Leadership & Involvement office. To ensure a smooth experience, SLI staff requested that students not line up at the door beforehand and that students verify they upload money to their Ram Account as they must use their ram card to purchase tickets.
1,000 tickets are available and only two tickets can be sold per student.
At the end of the meeting, the Director of Dining Joe Salvaggio presented updates on the dining halls around campus.
Overall, menus around campus have been revamped including new vendors and updated menu items. The dining team also announced that the Samia cafe will be introducing food from local vendors into the former “Ram Box” now “Ram’s Kitchen” cycle.
While returning students have been wondering why certain menu items aren’t available at certain locations anymore, dining staff responded that the goal for this year is to avoid having duplicate items to ensure students get a different dining experience at each location.
The team said they would appreciate students participating in the annual survey that will be sent out in October in order to receive feedback.
