A stripped-down Cabinet led the Allegheny Student Government through their weekly General Assembly on Tuesday, Oct. 24, re-approving a club constitution, swearing in a sophomore senator and approving just under $9,000 in club spending in a speedy 25-minute meeting.
Missing from the Cabinet table were Vice President Sam Ault, ’26, Chief of Staff Daria Kutova, ’25, Attorney General Will Lowthert, ’24, and Director of Communications and Press Jude Gotschall, ’26.
President Nicole Recio Bremer, ’25, led the meeting since Ault — who normally presides over the GA as vice president — was absent.
The only item of “Unfinished Business” was a second round of voting to award Philosophy Club recognition by ASG. The organization aims to foster different ways of thinking, according to V O’Connor-Belcher, ‘26, who serves as ASG’s director of organizational development and also represented Philosophy Club at the GA.
“(We’re) basically trying to get philosophy out of the classroom and give people more opportunities to discuss philosophy, engage with philosophy,” O’Connor-Belcher said.
O’Connor-Belcher highlighted an event Philosophy Club held earlier in the day at the North Village fire pit.
“I don’t know if anyone went,” O’Connor-Belcher said. “I didn’t.”
Philosophy Club was approved unanimously by the Senate. It will be the 116th ASG-recognized student organization on campus, according to a review of the college’s Engage database.
During “New Business,” Recio Bremer swore in Lizy Chovatia, ’26, to serve as a senator for the sophomore class. Chovati, who did not give any remarks at the meeting, is the fourth senator to represent the Class of 2026.
“No progress on (our) fifth senator yet,” said Class of 2026 President Lorenzo Scarnati during his report. “I will look into that soon again.”
Scarnati also reported that his class would be handing out candy near the entrance of the campus center on Tuesday, Oct. 31, for Halloween.
Cabinet reports saw a pair of short discussions on financial requests. The first came during voting, when Senator Aiden McGrory, ’26, raised his placard to ask about an irregularity in the finance request.
“I don’t think this total is correct,” McGrory said.
Goerman had reported a total of $8,944.95 in spending — $8,914.95 from the General Fund, and $30 from the Surplus Fund.
“There might be one or two missing — I added all of them up individually as totals before I put them into the sheet,” Goerman said. “I will go back and check that, because some of the clubs had more than one request.”
When the meeting minutes were posted on Wednesday, Oct. 25, financial requests listed only added up to $8,352.61 — just under $600 short of the total Goerman announced.
During the meeting, the spending request was approved with no further discussion. After the vote, Co-Director of Student Affairs London Dejarnette, ’24, raised a question relating to student radio station WARC’s approved request to purchase club stickers.
“Can clubs purchase things that are like merch, merchandise?” Dejarnette asked, adding that they recalled a stipulation that clubs provide part of the cost for merchandise before ASG took care of the rest of the bill.
Dean for Student Life and ASG Adviser Trae Yeckley replied that the rules depended on how the purchased items would be used.
“I think what you’re talking about was ASG’s Finance Guidelines from — might have been last year, the year before — if it’s something that’s going to be taken home, like not kept in inventory, then that I think has to come out,” Yeckley said.
Last year’s Financial Guidelines — which remain in place until the current Senate passes their own rulebook — only discusses t-shirts under the section relating to using ASG funds to buy merchandise. That document says for clubs with “15 members or less, merchandise will be funded up to $15.” It is implied but not spelled out that this amount is per-unit.
The amount funded drops as the size of a club increases; clubs with more than 16 members receive $12 per unit, and clubs with more than 30 members receive $10 per unit.
Goerman added that WARC pitched the request as going into their inventory, not just out to members.
“When they were requesting funds for their stickers, they were doing it to have them in stock for future events,” Goerman said. “So that was their reasoning.”
The GA closed at 7:55 p.m., and will reconvene next Tuesday, Oct. 31, at 7:30 p.m. in room 301/302 of the campus center.