Fordham University’s United Student Government (USG) met on Nov. 6 to complete their annual “post-it activity” with Michael R. Trerotola, vice president and chief of staff to President Tania Tetlow, discussing student concerns and presenting proposals and budget requests.
Associate Vice President for Strategy and Operations Christopher Rodgers began the meeting by introducing the new Dean of Students, Kevin Williams, to the Senate.
Executive President Lucas Hjertberg, FCRH ’26, and Executive Vice President Andrew McDonald, FCRH ’26, then introduced special guest Trerotola.
Trerotola said that, while he cannot fix everything, he wants to work with USG to identify systems that have not been working well and determine which of those are issues that he and the president’s office can work on improving.
Trerotola gave each USG member a set of post-it cards, instructed them to write down their concerns and place them into one of the following categories: belonging and campus life, academic and advising, campus environment and communication, student services and well-being and other.
Proposed ideas included excused absences for voting, extending weekend Ram Fit and the McShane Campus Center Marketplace hours, using percentage based financial aid, extending first-year orientation, addressing inconsistencies within the advising office and LGBT+ inclusive housing options. This activity occupied most of the meeting’s agenda.
The first-year senate then presented a budget request for their upcoming tabling. They requested funding for donuts and to purchase school supplies for students to use in the next semester. Vice President of Student Life Luc Angus, FCRH ’26, presented a budget request for a variety of raffle prizes for the Executive Board’s Wellness Week events. Both of these requests were approved pending minor changes.
Hjertberg then gave the executive report. He announced that he and McDonald recently attended the President’s Strategic Advisory Council where they met with Tetlow, discussed possible new initiatives that Fordham could implement and reviewed the strategic report.
He said they discussed the work of the federal government and the various ways that it could impact Fordham. They also discussed possibly having a donation button on Grubhub for unused meal swipes, offering collective support for student workers with federal budget cuts through departmental internships and expanding the Serving the City internship program.
Senator Anna Brown, FCRH ’27, then presented the schedule for the USG Day of Service event. The plan is to create food donation boxes and either distribute them throughout the community or have people pick them up at The Grotto. Brown also presented a budget request for all of the food that they purchase, with the total cost coming out to about $2,300. The Senate approved this request.
Hjertberg then moved on to the Executive Reports. USG Vice President of Operations Tina Pathak, FCRH ’28, announced that the Operations Committee had many club sanctions because multiple clubs were missing their operations packets, which were due on Nov. 3.
Vice Chair of Budget and Finance Siri Bhat, GSB ’27, stated that Budget packets were also due on Nov. 3. The Budget Committee received about $30,000 in requests but they only approved about $15,000.
Angus stated that he and his committee reviewed club suite and committee guidelines, followed by a discussion regarding how they plan to shape the guidelines going forward.
Vice President of Sustainability Ayden Johnson, FCRH ’27, announced that he is partnering with the Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL) for a winter clothing drive. He recently met with Facilities and Dining to discuss the Sustainable Dining Initiative from last semester.
