The Fordham Rose Hill United Student Government (USG) met on Thursday, Nov. 30, to vote on the special election candidates, Senate vacancies and to discuss public concerns with Fordham’s chief of staff for the president’s office, Michael Trerotola.
The Fordham USG held special elections for Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, Vice President of Finance and Budget, Vice President of Operations, Vice President of Health and Security and two class of 2025 senator positions.
Adil Kadirov, GSB ’26, Nicky D’Abundo, FCRH ’26, Yukta Murjani, GSB ’25, and Nyla Patel, FCRH ’25, ran for the position of Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion. Patel was announced as the new Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion. Patel stated that she is qualified for this position because of her role as Vice Chair of the Diversity Action Coalition committee and her great dedication to the committee. She also explained that she wants to work on having more community-engaging activities outside of the Fordham gates for Bronx Appreciation Week and said she hopes to help make improvements to commuter student’s Fordham experience.
Senator Zachary Visconti, GSB ’25, and Lucas Hjertberg, FCRH ’26, both ran for the position of Vice President of Finance and Budget with Hjertberg being announced as the new Vice President of Finance and Budget. Hjertberg explained how he has made great contributions to USG in the past when he was a senator for the 2022-23 school year. He said he worked on many proposals and initiatives, including the MENA proposal. He said that he was elected last year as the Vice Chair of the Budget committee and he was reelected for this semester, making him very qualified for the position. Hjertberg, FCRH ’26, announced that he, in his new position, would like to create a weekly budget sheet so that clubs can better understand how budget decisions are made and he wants to create a streamlined budget tracker for clubs.
Senator Megan Ruzicka, FCRH ’27, and Calum Stewertson, GSB ’26, ran for the position of Vice President of Operations. Stewertson won the vote for this position and he said that he wants to run the Operations committee the same as its current vice president, Lauren Walczyk, FCRH ’25. He also said that he hopes to get more underclassmen involved in the Operations committee.
Eliza Collins, FCRH ’26, was running unopposed for the position of Vice President of Health and Security. She stated that she is currently the vice chair for the USG Committee on Sexual Misconduct and her plans for next semester include clarifying the roles of individual members and the purpose of the committee to increase accountability. She also said that a big goal of hers is to increase the visibility of the committee and she hopes to collaborate with other clubs and committees.
Chris Konefal, GSB ’25, and Connor Larson, FCRH ’25, were both elected as class of 2025 senators for this upcoming semester.
Trerotola, chief of staff for the president’s office, spoke with the Senate about what school improvements they think would benefit the student body. He provided every USG member with sticky notes for them to write complaints, suggestions or discussion topics, and then discussed the most frequently mentioned ones. The main issues that were listed were tuition concerns, lack of communication with the study abroad office, commuter issues and lack of housing options. Senator Deborah Adebanjo, FCRH ’26, stated that she feels that the timing for school events, such as registration hours, are not accommodating to commuter students and that the absence policy is also difficult for many commuter students. She also expressed her concerns about the lack of housing on campus saying that students should not have to be worried about where they will be living on top of the many other responsibilities that they have. Vice President of Fordham College at Rose Hill Emma Balint, FCRH ’24, said that it is a comfort to many parents to know that their students will be guaranteed on-campus housing for all four years of their undergraduate education. Trerotola explained that this discussion was very beneficial for him as he does not get to see the student’s perspective on many issues and he hopes that he can try to amend student concerns.
Vice President of Dining and Facilities Jamie Serruto, FCRH ’24, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Mirei Fukushima, GSB ’25, and Balint all presented budget requests to buy food for their committee members. Vice President of Student Life Brian Inguanti, FCRH ’24, presented a budget request for food for 400 people for the McShane Art Show on Dec. 5.
Senator Karaam Youseff, GSB ’26, was announced as November Senator of the Month. The USG Senate voted for the Middle Eastern Student Association (MESA) as the November Club of the Month.
Serruto said he recently reviewed Aramark contracts and water bottling filling stations are being implemented in the residential halls. He also announced that the food truck is broken again and it will not be ready to be used by the end of this semester.
Senator Joseph DaProcida, FCRH ’25, presented his proposal to recommend the addition of Fordham’s Counseling and Psychological Services on Fordham professor’s syllabus. DaProcida said that he has been working on this proposal for the entire semester and that he wants all students to be aware of the mental health resources that are available to them.
