Seton Hall’s Student Government Association (SGA) has selected a new Student Life committee chair, the recently appointed at-large senator Saveria Antonacci. Antonacci looks to build on the current momentum of Student Life’s initiatives while bringing a fresh perspective to the table.
Antonacci, a sophomore diplomacy and international relations major, was elected vice-chair in October and gained further experience as the acting-committee chair since January following the graduation of former chairwoman Michelle Pan.
“I really think that helped me a lot with getting chosen for the position,” said Antonacci.
Her job involves presiding over the Student Life committee meetings and compiling the weekly committee reports. “I serve as the person to … lead everyone and make sure that people are making progress,” Antonacci said. “We deal with issues that center around Housing and Residence Life, Public Safety, Gourmet Dining Services (GDS) concerns … [and] club and organization activity.”
“The Student Life chair is voted on within the Senate,” Alyssa Futa, sophomore diplomacy and international relations major and SGA secretary, said via email of the process of appointing a committee chair. “[I]f multiple people are running for the seat, they give a short speech and the Senate votes. The person with the most votes becomes the committee chair.”
Christine Connelly, a freshman biology major and ad-hoc senator, praised the decision to appoint Antonacci.
“Saveria is a very organized and ambitious person,” she said. “She has projected new and improved initiatives for the committee for the semester.”
“Student Life is a part of SGA that is meant to focus on the lives of the students and improving their experience here at Seton Hall,” Futa added. “This includes relaying any concerns that students may have regarding this university to the appropriate parties and working on initiatives that attempt to solve these problems that students bring to our attention.”
According to Antonacci, there are 10 initiatives currently active in Student Life.
Connelly emphasized those initiatives that Student Life is currently working toward. These include spirit week, bringing healthier and vegan options to the dining hall and improving on-campus safety for students.
“Some of [the initiatives] are short term, some are long term,” said Antonacci, explaining that it will range from initiatives that will last just a few weeks to initiatives that will take several months.
Connelly added that while “Spirit Week is just a couple weeks away, the vegan-friendly dining hall options and the safety for the students may extend further into the semester as we as a committee work to make everything as inclusive as it can be.”
Antonacci added that a large portion of the work on initiatives is done by ad-hoc senators, saying that “I wanted to make sure we set up a lot of resources to help [ad-hoc senators],” she said, such as creating a template for email communication. Antonacci wants to emphasize streamlined communication, both within Student Life and between Student Life and the student body, moving forward.
“Because of the determination of the people in this committee, I think that we have a group of students who are passionate about the school, and really would bend over backwards so we can resolve issues and make the students happy,” Antonacci said. “Being chair, I am just very thankful for the people I have in my committee.”
Marie Leone can be reached at marie.leone@student.shu.edu.
