The Allegheny Student Government swore in new senators and discussed updates to finances at the first General Assembly of the year on Tuesday, Sept. 3. Each class filled all five Senate positions except for the class of 2025, which has four.
The class of 2025 Senate swore in Akari Brown as president, Eva Dillaman as vice-president and Kent Cervantes as a senator, with Alexis Costanza absent from the meeting. Class of 2026 will be represented by Iris Styers as president, Hailey Herring as vice president and McKenzie Hughes, Douglas Malcolm and Danielle Gibson as senators. Class of 2027 will be represented by Liam Shields as president, Aubrey Carion — who was absent from the meeting — as vice president, and Lyra Lindsay, Kylie Thompson and Tristan Marinch as senators. Class of 2028 swore in George Asante as president, Bella Spiers as vice president and Simone Greene as a senator, with senators Charlotte Feucht and Grace Wilson absent from the meeting.
Cabinet members were also voted on, including Joe Leszczynski, ’25, taking on the role of vice president. ASG President Ella DeRose, ’27, ran with Ray Colabawalla, ’25, as vice president last semester. Leszczynski noted the change during the meeting.
“I guess I can take a moment to address the fact that I am sitting as Vice President,” Leszczynski said. “That is because the former vice president stepped down for personal reasons. I appreciate the approval to take on this position, I take it very seriously. I don’t want this to be a hurdle for us.”
Colabawalla responded to The Campus’ request for comment via email, citing personal reasons as the reason for his absence.
“Due to personal reasons I wanted to step down, I fully support the administration and wish them the best of luck,” Colabawalla wrote.
Updates to finance were also a topic of discussion. Brown motioned to extend the finance discussion for five minutes, which then included questions from senators on the updates. The main update involved financing club trips, which used to require clubs to fundraise 30% of the cost. Now, ASG will pay the entirety.
“Pre-Covid we did not have the 70/30 (rule),” said Dean for Student Life Trae Yeckley. “So it hasn’t always been a thing, and it causes a lot of confusion when it comes to finance and it also is one reason why we had such a large surplus was, we weren’t spending all the money on the students now. So while it seems like you’re spending more money with less budget, that’s not necessarily true — we’re actually making sure the money is spent now on you.”
During the constituent comment period, Zula Stenger, ’25, spoke as a representative of Feminist Majority, an outside organization which hires students on college campuses in swing states to mobilize voters for the presidential election.
“If anyone has ideas or would like to volunteer — that’s one thing we’re looking for — please reach out to me,” Stenger said. “We would love to work with you, and don’t forget how important this election is.”
GA closed at 8:07 p.m. The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 7:30 in room 301/302 of the Henderson Campus Center.