On Monday, Oct. 17 another Student Government Inc. floor meeting went on in Marillac Terrace A from 5-6:30 p.m. Around 50 students attended and among them were members of SGI’s different committees.
SGI Secretary Frank Obermeyer said he is working with Yovanna Roa-Reyes, secretary of Feminists Unite, on bringing sexual and health education to campus. They recently had a meeting with the Director of Violence Prevention, Hanna Artiles-Straver, to talk about the means of sexual health and education, which Obermeyer said went well. They plan to meet with Dr. Luis Manzo, executive director of wellness, in the future.
“Our University aims to ensure [that] all of its students live healthy and successful lives,” Obermeyer said. “It’s my opinion that an important aspect of a student’s health is their sexual health. Right now, St. John’s has a few challenges that should be addressed in the field of sexual health, as we attempt to balance our Catholic values with the usual raging hormones of a college campus. We look forward to working with administration to face these challenges, as many members of administration have been supportive so far.”
On top of this, Obermeyer announced the new freshmen representatives. They introduced themselves and what they are excited to see as they work closely with SGI this year. Johnny Wiley, of St. John’s College said, “The main reason I joined student government was because I actually wanted to represent people.”
Obermeyer brought to people’s attention the freshman representatives meeting held on Thursday, Oct. 20th in DAC where they had the representatives feel out self-evaluation. Each freshman represented one school such as the College of Professional Studies and the Peter J. Tobin College of Business.
Further in the meeting, junior Kenneth Shelton, from the College Democrats and junior representative of St. John’s College, asked Obermeyer about the awareness of the Trojan report, where St. John’s ranked second to last at 139 out of 140 colleges and universities across the U.S. Obermeyer let Shelton know that St. John’s actually went down a few spots since last year, where it was ranked number 135.
“I mean just down the road, the hospital, you know you can get free condoms, you can get check-ups,” Shelton said. “So I don’t think, as St. John’s University, we should be last in anything and especially in health services.”
Many offices went over different topics such as the office of the senior senator explaining the senior scholarship and the new transfer student committee.
They asked for people to get involved and help mentor future transfer students. The junior senator then mentioned the annual “Giving Tuesday” event on Nov. 17. They are currently taking donations that will go to various departments on campus. It will be hosted in Taffner and there will be raffles and games.
Service committees had a lot to say as they they talked about the Relay for Life committee that was finalized. The “Light the way for Hope” event was that night also as people were able to volunteer to help spell out “hope” with lights.
The last “Give Kids the World” meeting was also held on Thursday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. in Marillac Terrace. They thanked everyone who came out for the “Walk the Fight” that happened on Sunday, Oct. 16.
The Office of Academic Affairs is currently developing a survey that will help organizations with their thoughts and opinions with Dr. James Salnave, associate dean for Student Development, and said they would like input for these surveys.
The budget committee then went over three special allocations. The Earth Club requested money for Rob Greenfield to come in and present, The Red House asked for their 10th annual fashion show and E.D.E.N. requested for their event, I Am Me.
Students are encouraged to check out the next floor meeting on Monday, Oct. 31 at 5-6:30 p.m. in DAC room 128 to find out what is going on around campus.
