SGA Senate Begins Year With Controversy

Image courtesy of Patrick D. Lewis

By Anthony Curioso and Patrick Lewis

With a gavel smack from Student Body Vice President Catherine Weatherwax, a junior politics major, the SGA Senate began its eleventh year of existence with a meeting on October 6 in Great Room B at the Pryzbyla Center.

Highlights from the public comment period included several students voicing support for confirming various nominations that the Senate would consider at this meeting, along with encouraging words from Student Body President Michael Kish, a senior majoring in business and philosophy.

Immediately after the elected senators took the oath of office, the first order of business was to confirm nominations from President Kish to fill vacant seats in both the SGA Senate and the Treasury Board.

The senate nomination was for Gabriela Sousa, a nursing major, to fill the vacant seat to represent the Conway School of Nursing. For the Treasury Board, the nominees were Desta Devereux, a freshman majoring in English; David Wiechec, a freshman majoring in business; and Patricia Kohler, a sophomore majoring in accounting.

As has become tradition with confirmation votes, the Senate confirmed all of these nominations unanimously. Following her confirmation, Sousa took the oath of office, which the rest of the senators had already done before considering her nomination.

Next on the Senate agenda was the selection of committee chairs. The first position to be elected was chair of the Committee on Rules and Administration, a position that also has the title President Pro Tempore. The two nominees were Matthew Moskowski, a junior majoring in business, and Jack Hermes, also a junior majoring in business.

Hermes and Moskowski made competing motions as to how the voting should work; Hermes moved for a roll-call vote while Moskowski moved for a vote by secret ballot. Weatherwax ruled that Moskowski’s motion would be voted on first, at which point Bert attempted to make a third motion. However, Weatherwax ruled that she did not recognize Hermes, leading the Senate to vote via Moskowski’s motion of secret ballot. This is a departure from the Senate’s decision to vote via roll-call for the past 10 years.

During the controversy, Felipe Avila, a senior nursing major and senator for the Conway School of Nursing, stated, “Let the record reflect that this is a clearly illegal parliamentary action.”

Later, Senator Hermes, after failing to be recognized again, said, “This is Nazism.” 

Rylie Novak, a senior politics and psychology double major who was in the audience, then loudly said to Weatherwax, “You rig elections. It’s what you do. You’re disgusting,” before leaving the chamber. Weatherwax threatened to eject anyone creating further disturbances from the room.

Moskowski won the election by one vote. 

For the chairship of the Committee on Academic Affairs, the senators unanimously selected Joshua Ortiz, a junior theology major. 

The elected chair of the Committee on University Services was Luc Vanraes, a sophomore majoring in architecture. Senator Hermes declined a potential nomination for this role, making Senator Vanraes the sole legitimate nominee considered for the position. However, some senators cast joke votes during the balloting for the University Services committee chair vote, which the Senate administrative team invalidated. 

Then, Kevin McNicholas, a sophomore majoring in politics, was elected chair of the Committee on Student Resources. Finally, the senators chose Bennett Bert, a senior majoring in politics, for his second term as the Chair of the Committee on Campus Life.

Next, the senators considered Resolution 001, A Resolution that the Catholic University of America Recognize the Second Monday of October Exclusively as Columbus Day. Richard Harrington, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering, sponsored the resolution, which said, in part, “The Voyages of Christopher Columbus were instrumental in the spread of the Catholic Faith and Philosophy. This helped lead to the eventual conversion of many Native Peoples in order to end many horrifying practices such as human sacrifice, delivering them into a more full relationship with God.” 

The resolution also said, “The opposition to Columbus Day has since its beginning been rooted in anti-Catholicism and xenophobia of the Know Nothing political movement which sought to bar Catholic Immigration to America. In addition to the Know Nothing movement, the Holiday was long opposed by the Ku Klux Klan for its association with Catholicism and Italian culture.”

The resolution received praise from Hermes and the co-sponsors, but also drew criticism from Emma Bonney, a sophomore majoring in politics, who said removing recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day was inappropriate. Resolution 001 ultimately passed by a vote of 17-3, with two senators abstaining.

The following three pieces of legislation all featured Ortiz as the primary sponsor.

Ortiz defended Resolution 002, titled “A Resolution to Address Cardinal Cards and Paper Plates in Garvey Hall,” by lamenting his annoyance with the existing process whereby students swipe into Garvey Hall. Before Ortiz’s proposal of this resolution, those who wished to swipe into Garvey Hall needed to physically hand their Cardinal Cards to the staff member working at the front desk, who would then tap the card on the reader and give it back to its owner once the computer system processed the swipe.

Ortiz’s primary grievance with this procedure stemmed from the fact that individuals had to wait for the swipe to process to have their Cardinal Cards returned, wasting valuable time, and that the Garvey Hall workers would often tap the Cardinal Cards against the readers with the card owner’s photo facing down, making it nearly impossible to verify that the card genuinely belonged to the person who presented it and that that individual owned a meal plan with enough remaining swipes to cover their visit to Garvey Hall. 

Resolution 002 seems to follow up on a previous resolution sponsored by Ortiz last year, Resolution 10-003: “A Resolution to Address Garvey Hall Concerns,” which was passed unanimously by the senators of Senate X at that time. This year, the voting margin in favor of passing Resolution 002 was 19-1, with two senators not voting because they were out of the room on a point of personal privilege.

The rationale Ortiz provided for Resolution 003, “A Resolution to Restore the Old Tailgate Location,” was that many students from both inside and outside of his academic school had approached him about this issue. The voting margin in favor of passing Resolution 003 was 20-1, with one senator abstaining due to being out of the room on a point of personal privilege.

Senators then moved on to discuss the first bill of the school year. According to SGA bylaws, a bill is defined as “a piece of legislation relating to the function of the Student Government Association.” 

Ortiz, also the primary sponsor of Bill 001 (A Bill to Allow for the Public Endorsement of Candidates During SGA Elections), defended the bill by stating that many other Universities permit candidates in their respective student government elections to obtain endorsements, as the Federal Elections Commission also permits candidates for state, local, and national elections to receive endorsements. Cosponsors of the bill said they believed that factions have already formed within the senate and that allowing endorsements would promote transparency. Senator Bert was among those who expressed their criticism. The final voting margin was 18-3 in favor of passing Bill 001.

The subsequent two bills, both sponsored by Senator Hermes, specifically proposed reforms to the administrative structure of the senate. Hermes justified Bill 002 (A Bill to Reflect University Restructuring in Senate Bylaws) by stating that he spent many long hours reviewing the bylaws and found that much of the information about the organizations under the purview of the Committee of Academic Affairs was now outdated due to the recent academic restructuring. Senator Hermes’ rationale for Bill 003 (A Bill to End Committee Meeting Fatigue) was that the newly elected committee chairs are well within their rights to determine the necessity of holding committee meetings absent substantial legislative items to discuss. After a period of debate, the margin was unanimous in favor of passing both of Hermes’ bills.

The senators concluded the legislative agenda by deliberating on Bill 004 (A Bill to Establish a Dress Code for Senate Meetings), sponsored by Senator Bert. Bert’s rationale for this bill was that it would reassert the senate as a body of dignity and decorum. The vote margin resulted in the senators passing Bill 004 unanimously.

Updates from Vice President Weatherwax following the completion of the legislative agenda included urging senators who passed legislation to meet with Frances Noory, a senior social work major and Student Body Secretary; canceling committee meetings on Columbus Day; and expressing gratitude to the senators for their grace during the meeting.

Highlights from the open-floor period at the conclusion of the Senate meeting included senators sponsoring legislation and the newly elected committee chairs thanking those who voted in favor of their appointments. There was also a warning from Senator Ortiz against abstaining from votes without a valid reason, as well as renewed calls for peaceful dialogue among the senators.

The next SGA senate meeting will take place on October 27 at 8:15 p.m. All remaining senate meetings for the 2025-26 school year will also be held in Great Room B at the Pryzbyla Center.