Much has happened and changed within Drew University’s Student Government since the start of this semester in August. Here are some of the most important and major updates.
Some Members Transferred Out
A number of Senators and staff members, including former Vice President Maks Coven and former Senator Zahrah Azeem, transferred out of Drew this summer. Elections were held on Sept. 8, and new members were appointed to fill their vacant positions.
On Aug. 27, the Senate convened to pass its yearly budget and swear in a new clerk, Jorgelisa Rodriguez-Zapata (‘29), who was also selected to head the Dining Committee.
Sen. Daniel Ohr (‘26) was selected to replace former Sen. Coven as President Zaire Wright’s Vice President. Kayla Kiernan (‘28) was also selected as Wright’s new Chief of Staff.
New Senators Elected
Due to a higher number of Senators transferring out of Drew than usual, several newcomers have been elected across the board. StuGov tabling for voting awareness ran almost right up to the end of polling on Sept. 8, and results were announced that night in Ehinger Center Room 109 at roughly 8:45 p.m.
Under the leadership of Elections Chair Jordyn Casanova-Ghosh (’28), new Senators at-Large and Freshman Senators were selected and a new seat–Transfer Senator–was established, with Sen. Dejanayha Hill (‘27) being the first elected to the new position.
The other new elects include freshman Senators Coco Otto (‘29) and George Grullón Martinez (‘29), International Senator Olufeyikemi Akinyemi-Lawale (‘27) and at-large Senators Breena Stephen (‘27), Angela Loeser (‘27), Edgar Guzman (‘28) and Camille Schiralli (‘28).
The Senate convened to swear in Kiernan and the new Senators on Sept. 10, as well as to discuss other student concerns.
Dining Concerns
At the Aug. 27 meeting, concerns were raised by a first-year student at the meeting who said that she struggles with dining options at Drew–especially in Commons–due to the lack of choice or accommodation of her religious dietary restrictions, adding that she has not been able to eat well so far on campus due to the frequent unavailability of food that she would be able to have.
Concerns were also raised about the new hours for the Commons, with the main dining hall now opening at 8:30 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on weekends–closing at 10 p.m. every day–instead of opening earlier and closing at midnight as it did last year. Sen. James Dempsey (‘27) brought this up at the Sept. 10 meeting and was echoed by Loeser and Hill.
Loeser and Senior Sen. Sandra Faragalla (‘26) raised the issue of reports by constituents where students who were lactose intolerant and had ordered specifically dairy-free products were mistakenly given dairy anyway, and pushed for more transparency with regards to how dining staff are trained and staffing decisions so that measures could be taken to avoid similar dietary-restrictions errors, lessen the impact of understaffing and allow dining staff to work without becoming overwhelmed.
Dempsey also raised the issue of many student activities, like most team sports and several of the New York semesters, as well as many regularly scheduled student classes, requiring a significant number of students to be otherwise engaged far before opening time, especially due to several morning classes beginning as early as 7 to 8 a.m. Seconding this, Hill brought up that the new closing time was not ideal either, due to several groups of students ending activities as late as 9 or 9:30 p.m.
Loeser also pointed out that even some hours before the actual time of closing, the Commons staff will perform a “soft close,” where many of the basic food items and stations are prematurely put away for the night, resulting in far fewer options for students who have the misfortune of having late classes to eat dinner.
She added as well that while “soft closing” last year had relatively little impact due to the lack of crowds nearing midnight, continuing to do so with the new timings (where the soft-close reportedly starts near 6 or 7 p.m.) is unsustainable given the much later times that students are actually released from classes and activities. “Even if it’s just two students [in the dining halls during early or late hours], those two students do still deserve to eat,” she remarked.
Faragalla and Sen. Arya Patel (‘27) also suggested possibilities for more student engagement with dining, including some new methods for the dining company to improve its social media reach to students on campus.
After information about Senate committee assignments was given to the new elects, Vice President Ohr gave updates about upcoming events and the meeting was adjourned at 9:37 p.m. that night. This year, Student Government plans to hold regular meetings every other Wednesday at 8 p.m. in Ehinger Center room 145.
Sabr Keres-Siddiqui is majoring in political science and minoring in sociology.
