This Week in Senate
Week of 11/29/2015 – 12/5/15
By Awais Qazi
The Public Relations Committee of Student Senate would like to make an effort to make your Student Government Association a little more transparent to address the concerns of the Student Body. Therefore, starting with this last issue of The Vector, and continuing to do so through the next semester and further, we will do our best to summarize everything we accomplished in the prior week and print it in the paper for our students to stay informed.
This past week, Senate hosted its biggest event of the semester, Casino Night. They worked immensely hard to create an environment that would allow for students to have some fun, take their mind off final exams and classroom stress, and have an opportunity to win some hot ticket prizes. The turnout for the event was great; the hall was packed and hundreds of raffle tickets were used in attempt to win prizes such as a PS4, Mountain Bike, TV, etc. The Athletics and School Spirit Committee and Public Relations Committee of Student Senate were both extremely pleased with this outcome, and understand this event is a tradition they have held for many years in the past. It is evident this tradition will continue many years into the future.
In addition to holding this major event, Senate has continued to work on addressing the issues and concerns of our Student Body. Freshman Resident Representative, Mansi Sheth, met with administration to discuss a new maintenance system that will be hopefully be put in place by the time we get back in the Spring. This new system will allow for students to know if their maintenance request has been accepted and a time estimate as to when the request will be fulfilled. They will be able to find out the status of the request through the Highlander Pipeline as well as receiving notifications via email, if they choose to select that option. In addition to discussing this new system, she also discussed the possibility of getting new Student ID Cards with improved functionality. According to administration, that is a project that is currently being investigated. The school is very interested in getting new Smart Cards, however, they are still looking for funding for such a project. Added functionality could include tracking club hours, use on vending machines, use on laundry machines, and more. Moving forward, we would also like to see it being usable at outside vendors such as Giovanni’s Pizza, Subway, etc. For more information on Ms. Sheth’s discussions with administration, you can check out the full Meeting Minutes, posted outside the Student Senate Office on the Fourth Floor of the Campus Center.
In further news, we have had a few resignations on our Senate. Vice President of Finance, Jennifer Farah, has resigned from her position. Since this is an extremely large and crucial position, a new Vice President of Finance will be voted in internally from the Senate at the coming meeting on Wednesday, December 9, 2015. In addition to that, Ashley Betts, Architecture Representative, and Kaila Trawitzki, Engineering Technology Representative, have both resigned from their positions on Senate as well. All three of these students have shown exceptional commitment to the Student Senate during their times in their respective positions. The Student Senate is sincerely appreciative of the quality of work they have done in making our campus a better place. They are confident that these students will continue to accomplish incredible feats in whichever paths they choose to pursue.
If you are interested in running for a newly vacant position on Student Senate, or any other open positions, you may fill out the form on their website, http://www.senate.njit.edu/. Senate hopes to continue to be more transparent and aware of your concerns in the future; I hope it is evident that they are doing their best to move in the right direction. For any questions, comments, or concerns about your Student Senate, you may visit their office on the Fourth Floor of the Campus Center, Room 480, between the hours of 10 am to 5:30 pm, Monday through Friday.
