By Lauren Beeman

Student Government’s meeting location looked a little different Oct. 3. SGA met in the Private Dining Room of the Cafeteria and participated in a focus group sponsored by Chartwells.

SGA members were welcomed with a spread of hors d’oeuvres and beverages provided by Chartwells and were then asked to fill out a survey regarding the campus dining service.

After the survey was completed, a representative from Chartwells gave an interactive presentation where she asked students to rank the quality and value of Chartwells on Quincy’s campus.

“I feel like some of the food…of course it is made in bulk…but that compromises the flavor. I feel a lot of students feel like just a number when they come in,” Senator Samuel Deleon said.

Other commentary regarding the dining service included mentions of vast improvements in taste and variety from previous years and high-praise of the workers’ customer service.

Senators suggested room for improvement in the variety of healthy eating options, more eating option locations, and SGA Advisor Fr. John Doctor suggested having an ethnic night once a month to highlight food from a different culture.

“I cannot stress this enough, it is a huge improvement since my freshman year,” Deleon commented.

Once the Chartwells presentation concluded, the meeting agenda turned toward discussing old business starting with the homecoming tailgate.

President Gino Grivetti informed the senate that out of the 360 hotdogs, 70 bratwurst, and 50 hamburgers purchased, SGA served around half of those items to tailgaters.

Grivetti used the leftover supplies for another SGA sponsored tailgate at the football game last Saturday evening.

Senator Josh Del Rosario suggested an improvement in tailgate participation by creating an SGA Snapchat handle for students to follow. Grivetti and the senate agreed with this idea and SGA intends to add this form of social media to their list of already existing online profiles.

Grivetti also informed the senate that the purchase of QU merchandise for the homecoming tailgate proved highly successful as SGA handed out a number of sunglasses and other spirit items.

As the meeting segued into the discussion of new business items, the topic of SGA hosting a rootbeer kegger became the first item of debate.

While further details about the event will be available once finalized, SGA plans to host the kegger on Nov. 3, 2017. The discussion of how much money to budget for the event spurred another conversation.

After spending $1,000 of its budget on tailgating items for homecoming, SGA is now working with a $4,000 budget for the remainder of the year. In addition to funding its own events, the governing body must also decide whether or not it intends to further fund student clubs and organizations.

This led Grivetti to suggest partnering with the Campus Activities Board for the rootbeer kegger in order to increase the amount of funding available. Grivetti intends to extend a meeting invitation to CAB, who meets during the same time as SGA, to discuss a possible event merger.

The final agenda item presented by Grivetti involved the discussion of the new constitution.

Grivetti suggested that instead of the entire SGA working on the document together he would simply put together a document for review and approval.

Del Rosario presented an alternative.

“We could all knock out little bit by little bit each meeting. Set 15 minutes aside and work on it,” Del Rosario said. The rest of the senate voted in favor of Del Rosario’s proposition.

Grivetti explained that the new constitution would move away from the previous, 20 page draft created last semester by former senator Matt Anderson, and would be one to two pages long in its entirety.

The contents of the new constitution will include the specified dates associated with the election, the number of senators, the requirement for the Presidential and Vice-Presidential to run on the same ticket, and the ability for the President and Vice-President to appoint senators if needed.

The appointment of senators proves to still be a struggle for the current SGA administration, and is an issue Grivetti hopes to resolve with a new constitution.

“We are functioning currently,” Grivetti remarked.

Elections for the new SGA officers will take place two weeks prior to Thanksgiving break.