Third Meeting of SGA Senate X Mirrors Predecessor, Has Two Resolutions and a Bill
Image Courtesy of SGA
By Anthony Curioso
The tenth SGA Senate held its third meeting on November 18 in Great Room B at the Pryzbyla Center, giving senators one last chance to propose and vote on legislation before the CUA Thanksgiving break. One senator was absent from the meeting because of other commitments.
Highlights from public comment at the November 18 meeting included two students voicing contempt for the fact that a resolution from the Busch School of Business Senator Matthew Moskowski was left off the agenda by sophomore biology major and Student Body Vice President Clare Tong, which would have called for delaying implementation of the Metro UPass program. Senior politics major and Student Body President Jeffrey Lance provided updates on previous resolutions, events and teased an upcoming 40 hour perpetual adoration period organized by the Catholic Values Executive Initiative. To conclude public comment, one student expressed his support for Resolution 004, which called for adding Cardinal Cards to students’ digital wallets.
The Senators first listened to and posed questions for the latest speaker in what Tong and her two immediate predecessors have called the “Senate Speaker Series”: Javier Bustamante, who serves as the director of the CUA Center for Cultural Engagement (CCE). Bustamante’s address detailed the CCE’s efforts to promote a stronger community and healthier dialogue on campus through the Take Flight program and other resources. Bustamante also described new initiatives that the CCE has started to support commuter students better. He invited senators to reflect on kinship, fellowship, and the connections people make daily around campus.
Following Bustamante’s address, there were committee chair updates, during which one chair revealed that a member of her committee, freshman musical theater major Madelyn Kobbermann (Senator for the Rome School of Music, Drama and Art), had resigned for an undisclosed reason.
Next, the senate dispensed with their legislation for the evening, beginning with updates to the SGA Executive Bylaws. Lance explained that these bylaw amendments would publicize the results of all executive elections, including vote totals and percentages, and would not publicize names of students who received write-in votes unless these individuals were the winners in the election. The amendments to the Executive Bylaws passed with a unanimous vote.
From here, the senate meeting continued with deliberation on Bill 002 (A Bill to Publicize SGA Senate Election Results & Correct Numbering on Election Duties Clause). This bill ensures that the same bylaw changes that had just been unanimously approved for executive elections would also apply to the senate.
The next legislative item for the senate was Resolution 004 (A Resolution to Add Cardinal Cards to Mobile Wallets). A similar resolution was passed by Senate VII in the 2021-22 school year, with a trial run conducted in the fall semester of 2022, but it is unclear why the University did not fully implement the resolution from Senate VII at that time. The sponsors defended Resolution 004 by emphasizing the resolution’s desired outcomes of convenience and sustainability. By a unanimous vote margin, the senate voted to pass Resolution 004.
Last on the legislative agenda for the senate was Resolution 005 (A Resolution to Review Pryz Market Prices), sponsored by Senator Albanese. His rationale for this resolution emphasized Catholic social teaching and the virtue ethics model promoted by the Busch School of Business. This resolution sparked a lengthy debate among the senators, with supporters offering a price comparison of products provided in the Pryz Market compared to other retailers’ prices for the same items and claiming that the Pryz Market pricing was unethical. The main point of criticism from several senators was an argument that CUA Dining Dollars are not necessarily a 1:1 ratio with real U.S. dollars. The Senate ultimately voted unanimously to pass Resolution 005.
Vice President Tong’s updates included giving Committee Chairs an option to hold the next Senate Committee meetings virtually, reminding senators of the importance of following protocols relating to sharing resolution ideas and requesting to meet with administrators, and providing a rationale for withholding Moskowski’s resolution from the floor.
Highlights from the open-floor session to conclude this senate meeting included Moskowski voicing his reasoning for proposing his withheld resolution as well as multiple senators voicing disapproval of withholding Moskowski’s resolution and the method by which students were informed and could voice their opinions on the logistics of the Metro UPass program.
After Thanksgiving, there is one final senate meeting this semester, which will take place on December 2 in the Pryz Great Room B. As always, please check the SGA Instagram account for updates on the legislation from this meeting and all past and future meetings, along with updates from the other branches of SGA.
