During SGA’s weekly meeting, SGA President Charlie Reyna-Demes responded to a recent Suffolk Journal article, “Letter from the editor: Student leaders need to focus on their financials” by The Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Maren Halpin.
“It’s not really about the Tate McRae tickets,” said Reyna-Demes. “It’s about the larger issue, about the budget cuts, the stuff affecting the universities all across the United States and more in general, how they’re affecting all the groups on campus.”
Reyna-Demes stated that the issues Halpin described were true and that the article highlighted ways that the Student Government Association violated their principals.
“All the clubs, organizations…even administrative bodies of our school are suffering because of these cuts,” said Reyna-Demes.
He started his statement describing The Journal as a cornerstone for Suffolk as it highlights issues that impact students. He emphasized that the $5,000 budget cut to The Journal is tragic, then clarified that SGA does not allocate their funds.
In the letter from the editor Halpin wrote, “I was encouraged by SGA’s recent decision to raise the student activities fee to help support our performing arts groups and the current administration’s voiced concern about the staff layoffs and other financial struggles facing our university, but to me, it seems that this empathy stops at their own wallets.”
Reyna-Demes disagreed and found the statement reductive. He felt and didn’t appreciate that the editor used PAO struggles to justify their claims that SGA uses their budget unfairly. He revisited how the activities fee increase allowed SGA to allocate $20,000 to the PAO, who were never funded by SGA beforehand.
He added that over 30 new clubs were added to campus and that SGA gave most of them $1,000.
“To say that we’ve lost empathy when we are the ones who deliver these funds is unfair,” said Reyna-Demes. “The Journal, with its cuts, could have come to us just like PAO did. They could have found solutions. Instead, we have been met with a public reprimand that ignored the bigger picture of what we do every day and undermined our commitment to the cause that they laid out at the beginning of their article. I say we are committed to that cause. I think I laid out plenty of examples.”
Halpin wrote, “While some groups struggle, it seems that others are living in bliss. I was particularly disappointed to learn that our Student Government Association purchased a box, for example, at the TD Garden for Tate McRae’s upcoming performance, costing $2,500 for only roughly 20 students’ benefit.”
Reyna-Demes thought $2,500 was a fair amount for the Tate McRae concert tickets, but recognized that the money is not nothing, and could help change clubs.
“That is a fair amount. I want to state right now, I’m not saying that is nothing. That number right there for a lot of university clubs and organizations can be changing,” said Reyna-Demes.
He pointed out that Halpin’s article failed to mention the event was actually a raffle. The raffle grants spots to 10 winners, allowed to bring an additional guest, for $40 per ticket. However, it was later confirmed that SGA’s elected board members received tickets for themselves and a guest free of charge, meaning there are six spots left for all students to win the remaining tickets. He said SGA doesn’t only keep clubs stable, but they also provide opportunities for student engagement, such as discounted tickets to performances and sports games.
Joey Pisani, senator-at-large, defended the intention behind Halpin’s article.
“It’s being brought up because there are issues about how things are funded at this school when it comes to…the administration,” said Pisani. “And, I think more than anything, this article was a call to action that as everybody moves forward…taking a second to reflect on the situation that we’re in and think about how it might feel to people.”
Fayth Cordeiro, class of 2028 senator, said she understood where Halpin was coming from as well.
“We just voted to increase the activities fee for all the students, but then we’re making a purchase that’s $2,500. And I just don’t understand the need for it, because we’re having our own big concert…that allows 1,000 students to go. Whereas this allows 20 students to go in comparison,” said Cordeiro.
SGA Vice President Kayleigh Carey said SGA has done this raffle for the past four years. She explained that SGA buys the tickets in groups through TD Garden, so they have to get a box which only allows a smaller number of students to attend. Carey said that the suites did not include food and beverage and that the price only covers the ticket.
Senators raised concerns about the lack of transparency in the entire situation and pushed for more communication. The e-board agreed that they will be more transparent then emphasized that anyone can talk to them and ask questions.
Later in the meeting SGA Secretary, Stephanie Lima, introduced the P.I.L.L.A.R award. It recognizes senators who meet the six pillars which are passion, integrity, leadership, legacy, activism and “Rambition.” The E-Board recognized the class of 2028 senator Mona Ammar and class of 2027 senator Braydon Walorz.
