Announcements and discussions on future events unfolded during Allegheny Student Governments’s weekly general assembly meeting.

With no guest speaker, ASG’s general assembly commenced with cabinet reports at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, in the Henderson Campus Center lobby. 

Director of Communication and Press David Roach, ’21, began his report by announcing the page for 2020 ASG presidential elections has been posted on the ASG website. He also reported that the biweekly will be moved to Monday, Feb. 24, to post about the primary elections occurring on Tuesday, Feb. 25, until Thursday, Feb. 27.

Following Roach, Director of Diversity and Inclusion Taylor Marzouca, ’20, reported that on Friday, Feb. 21, she will be meeting with the Dean for Institutional Diversity Kristin Dukes to discuss bias reporting and how to utilize it on campus. 

Marzouca also announced that the planning of Reggae Fest is underway and that the event will take place on Friday, March 6. She also noted that she emailed Deputy Mayor Larry McKnight and City Council Member Autumn Vogel to request them to speak at the college. 

“(They would be speaking about) solidarity, which would be our educational component of the semester,” Marzouca said. 

To conclude her report, Marzouca reminded the attendees that she is a resource if there are issues or questions about anything that occurs in ASG or on campus.

After Marzouca, Director of Community Relations Owen Jacobsen, ’23, announced that McKnight and City Manager Andy Walker will be attending the next general assembly meeting on Tuesday Feb. 25. 

Soon after Jacobsen, Attorney General Brandon Zabo, ’22, reported that two clubs are to be voted on for a second week — The Krampus and Club Volleyball. Both clubs were approved. 

To end his report, Zabo made a small announcement that abstaining from votes should only occur if there is a conflict of interest.

“Even though you have the option to abstain from a vote, it’s really not productive to do so,” Zabo said. “You should either be voting yes or no to things that happen on campus.”

Following Zabo, Chief of Staff Jared McHale, ’20, reported that Jasper Kathman, ’23, has applied to join the Council on Diversity and Equity (CODE). 

“They are applying because they are a genderfluid/queer individual who is interested in equality and diversity on campus,” McHale said. “They have many experiences because of being a queer person, transitioning their gender, and (they believe) they can bring that perspective to CoDE.”

After a Senate vote, Kathman was approved to join CoDE. 

McHale made a few more announcements before concluding his report, including that the Study Away and Campus Internationalization Committee are in the process of reviewing EL proposals and that the Arabic minor has been officially approved by the Curriculum Committee. 

Following McHale, Co-Director of Student Affairs Kelsey Evans, ’20, revealed that they were finalizing the  student life survey within the next few days. 

After a few more cabinet reports, ASG transitioned to class reports. There were many announcements, with the Class of 2020 reporting that they will be creating a committee to decorate and discuss how to best use the David V. Wise Center for the commencement ceremony. 

The Class of 2021 reported that the JaDE benefit event last Saturday raised over $1,000 for the Crawford County Special Olympics. 

Following that report, the Class of 2022 announced that they had made 217 Valentine’s Day cards for the elderly in retirement facilities around the Meadville area and plan on doing a similar project for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. 

“(Active Aging) expressed interest in working with us again for this upcoming Mother’s Day and Father’s Day,” said President of the Class of 2022 Kathryn Phillippe. “So if anyone has any interest in working with us on this project please contact me or one of our senators.” 

To close the class reports, the Class of 2023 stated that they are finalizing the First Year Formal which will take place from 7 to 9 p.m on Friday, March 7.

After class reports, Vice President Elyse Cinquino, ’20, began her report by announcing that a self defense class has been confirmed for Saturday, March 8, and will be facilitated by a professor from the Department of Dance and Movement Studies.

Continuing her report, Cinquino also reminded attendees that there is an opportunity to be on the Major Events Committee to facilitate future events like Springfest. 

Following Cinquino, President Jason Ferrante, ’20, initiated his report by thanking the volunteers who helped with the major concert the previous weekend.

“We couldn’t have done it without the volunteers that we had, we had people working from about 9 a.m. to 2 a.m.,” Ferrante said. “So big shout-out to everyone that helped.”

Ferrante continued, reporting that he had attended a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 14, with members of the Allegheny administration to discuss why Robertson field was not chosen as the location for this year’s graduation ceremony. 

“There are a variety of reasons why Robertson (field) won’t work.” Ferrante said. “Among them is the number of restrooms, the parking lot would be awful if it rained the week before (and) there are massive security concerns.” 

Ferrante also said that he had a meeting with President of Allegheny Hilary Link on President’s Day to discuss ways that they can better support and service students, particularly students of color. 

Moving into unfinished business, Ferrante announced that there is an option to put either a television or Smartboard into room 317/318 in the campus center and asked for the input of the attendees on which device they believed would be best for the space.

The majority that voiced their opinion suggested a television due to the fact that some students don’t have one in their dorm and it is very versatile.  

“I think a TV would be a better choice because you can hook your computer up to it and project it, and I think it will help with sharing content,” President of the Class of 2023 Peter Alegre said. 

After the discussion, ASG moved into new business, where they discussed the safety of the houses on Loomis Street and possible reconstruction in the future. The meeting came to a close at 7:45 p.m.