On Thursday, March 31, 2022 Fordham University Rose Hill United Student Government (USG) met to discuss election policies.

After last April’s scandal regarding election misconduct, Executive President Thomas Reuter, FCRH ’22, is taking extra care to inform candidates of expected conduct during election season.

Reuter plans to discuss election conduct policies at the mandatory all-candidate meeting.

The senate also discussed the expansion of the garden outside Finlay Hall.

Finlay Hall is prone to flooding as the back of the residence hall is mainly concrete. The request of the senate would be to create a larger garden on the backside of Finlay instead of the concreted area.

The senators involved have discussed this with the Office of Residential Life as well as the Residence Hall Association to ensure this process would be as minimally inconvenient to students as possible.
The senators would also like to include native vegetation and plants that need a high level of water intake to ensure they would not drown when water pools in the area. This proposal has passed and will continue to administration.

Another proposal brought to the senate this week was called International Student Financial Aid & Employment Access.

This proposal includes a new scholarship that will fully cover tuition and room and board costs for 15 international students on campus.

The proposal also asks for an expansion of Financial Aid Appeal opportunities for international students and reserved on-campus employment options on a need-based basis.
USG Senator Santiago Vidal Calvo, FCRH ’24, noted that the amount of Fordham international students has decreased steadily since 2017 due to a lack of financial support offered to out of country students.

Vidal also stated that, “The scholarship is location-blind and focuses on the type of candidate and their need, but different initiatives are being pursued to increase diversity in our international applications.”
These scholarships would be over one million dollars, but Vidal said that money would be allocated from the “Cura Personalis” campaign or alumni donations. This proposal also passed in the senate and will continue onto the next steps.

USG hosts a meeting every Thursday to discuss issues pertaining to student life and faculty at the university that they wish to act upon.