Freshman Senator Fila Sovis Elected Senate Pro-Tempore

STUDENT CENTER – MPR. Thursday’s Senate meeting, the second time that this recently elected Senate has met, ran from 12:30pm until 1:15pm. No legislation was present on the agenda; most of the meeting was divided between officer reports and the holding of the Senate Pro-Tempore election.

President Noa Lolona Haro reported that Chief of Staff Jackson Beckmann was representing students at the Faculty & Staff Senate meeting to advocate for open education resource textbooks. This initiative pushes for more professors to use these free textbooks, with the endgoal of having all classes use free textbooks. He went on to mention that Student Government was hiring for its still-open positions: Senators, the SGU Chief Justice, the Wildcat Media General Manager, the Wildcat Events Board President, the SGU Director of Leadership Development, the SGU Director of Campus & Community Outreach, the SGU Creative Design Coordinator, and the SGU Social Media Coordinator. (The application forms for each position can be found on Campus Groups or by emailing sgu@sunypoly.edu.)

President Lolona Haro next spoke about the Wildcat Media Town Hall that had occurred two days earlier, concluding his report with a promise that the executive board would be reviewing all the ideas mentioned and develop a plan from there. Vice President Jasmin Lutawan reported that more and more Senators were being trained and reiterated that hiring was open for additional Senators.

No reports were given for the Treasurer or Secretary; neither had been sworn into their positions as of this meeting. Director of Public Relations Erika Lein reported on the growth and engagement metrics of Student Government’s Instagram. Advisor Kathie Artigiani gave a report, but it was not picked up by the livestream. Advisor Bailey Wadsworth announced that this would be one of her last Senate meetings, as she is leaving SUNY Poly in early November.

Wildcat Events Board, represented by WEB Vice President Zoey Caldwell, reported that Trivia Night had been rescheduled (the week prior it had been canceled just several hours before it was scheduled to begin). WEB Vice President Caldwell also reported that Spooky Night was happening that evening, the Salem Bus Trip that weekend, and that planning for the spring semester was underway.

Club Advisory Board President Maximus Azzarello reported that Tech Talk club had been frozen. Wildcat Esports President Kalen Hwangpo reported that WCE’s teams were continuing to compete, including a LAN that Saturday. No further business or reports were on the agenda that day, and so the Senate motioned to begin the Pro-Tempore election after a brief five-minute recess.

Senator Fila Sovis first nominated Senator Emili Petrovski, seconded by Senator Matthew Rose. Senator Petrovski went on to nominate Senator Sovis, seconded by Senator Zoe Pieri. Both Senator Petrovski and Senator Sovis are new to the Senate, having been elected just a couple of weeks ago. Senator Petrovski serves as a Sophomore Senator, representing the second-year class, while Senator Sovis serves as a Freshman Senator, representing the first-year class.

The candidates were each asked a number of questions from student officers, then the candidates and audience were both removed from the room to allow for confidential internal deliberation known as executive session. Upon the end of deliberations, which are not made public, all were re-invited and the Senators – including Sovis and Petrovski – cast their votes anonymously on paper ballots.

While the exact vote breakdown was not reported, Senator Sovis was announced as the winner and new Senator Pro-Tempore for the student Senate.

Asked for comment on her election, Senator Sovis shared the following, “Honestly, I am very shocked, but more so incredibly grateful that my fellow senators have felt that I was fit for the role considering my answers to questions were little short ended!” Senator Sovis went on to state that she was “..very excited for the opportunity to be a voice and role model for the other senators and student body.” When asked what she was looking to accomplish, Senator Sovis responded, “Personally for me to become more confident in my voice and ideas, but as for the student body to really bring forth actions and concerns that may be a deep concern and to hopefully improve our campus life is what I’m hoping to accomplish as of right now.”

The remainder of the Senate meeting was taken up by Open Forum. Aiden Pascal, a sophomore who served in Wildcat Media last year, pointed out to the horseshoe that the livestream of the Senate meeting had intermittent screen flashing every few seconds. (Wildcat Media is not currently active, although hiring is open for its General Manager position, and so Student Government is handling the livestreaming of the Senate meetings.) Vice President Lutawan was asked for a timeline of when committees would be started by; she replied that they were hoping to have committees up and running in a few weeks.

The livestream for the entire Senate meeting can be found on Wildcat Media’s Youtube channel, or by clicking here. The next Senate meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 29th, at 12:30pm. The agenda for that meeting, as well as the minutes from this past Senate meeting, are expected to be uploaded to Campus Groups under Student Government at Utica by Wednesday at noon.