The Student Government Association swore in ten new senators on Monday, Sept. 29, following one of their largest applicant pools in recent memory. Timothy Hoffman, president of SGA, said he was pleased with the additions to the senate.
“I think we got a really good class of new freshmen and upperclassmen that got welcomed into the senate. I think they’ll bring a lot of energy to get some real change on campus,” he said.
SGA received 54 applications for the 10 senate positions left vacant following elections this April. As per SGA’s new bylaws, freshmen were permitted to run for appointment outside of the previous three designated senate positions available to freshman, all three of which were among the 10 seats filled.
Mary Kate Ward, who was appointed as a freshman senator, said she is looking forward to getting involved.
“It means so much to me, Student Government has been really important in my life,” said Ward, who learned of the organization when she attended Pirate Weekend as a senior in high school this spring. “I was involved in high school and was student government president my senior year, so being chosen to be a freshman senator for SGA was amazing. I’m so excited to have a voice for a quarter of the Seton Hall Student Body. I love knowing that I can help make a difference.”
Alexander Krause and Ariel Strait also were appointed freshman senators. Christian Krommenhoek and Joe Martinelli were sworn in as education senators, Ami Patel as nursing, Andrew Aguilera as business, Kyle Adams as arts and sciences, Mohammed Syed as diplomacy and Charles Velez as commuter senator.
In addition to the senators who were selected on Monday, SGA also added 25 non-voting members who serve on committees, a more than three-fold increase over last year.
Maggie Bach, assistant dean of students and leadership development, said the spike in interest, which has filled all senate seats “for the first time in a long time,” is a result of the hard work of those currently involved in SGA.
“Public Relations and the elections committee did a great job promoting the open positions,” she said. “But it also shows that SGA is active and that the student body is aware of the impact that being part of the student government can make on them.”
The new senators hope to work on some initiatives including credit and ATM card capabilities for the Pirates Cove and commuter cafeteria, an expansion of healthier vending machines on campus and enhanced meal plan options for commuters.
Clayton Collier can be reached at clayton.collier@student.shu.edu.
