Call to order
Agenda of the Senate
Hofstra University Student Government Association
(18th September 2025)
Hofstra University
Meeting Called to order at 6:45 EST
A. Quorum Call
a. Quorum set to 24
B. New Business
a. Chair Dzaveluri moves to open the gallery
i. Motion Seconded
ii. Motion Passed
b. Welcome, Dr. Cornell Craig and Dr. Aisha Wilson-Carter!
i. Dr. Cornell Craig: I have been here for 6 years and there has been a lot of growth, but there is still a lot of room for growth. As a university, we must make sure everyone is taken care of.
ii. Dr. Aisha Carter: I am the Executive Director of Equity and Inclusion. We are here to serve you as students, I have been at Hofstra for quite a while and have seen much growth at this institution.
iii. Dr. Cornell Craig: We are in challenging times, especially when it comes to creating equitable and inclusive spaces. We are fortunate to be in NY and have our entire leadership team. Some colleges have had to relocate or close their offices and stop their work. You should all be familiar with what is happening at Colombia and what has happened with their federal grant money. The work here always continues, we are looking to stay true to our values as a university. We are looking to create a welcoming supportive environment for the university, even if it is not perfect. We want dialogue to be open in and out of the classroom. We are bringing back the Sense of Belonging survey this fall around the beginning of November with questions discussing student experience in and out of the
classroom, there are no right or wrong answers. What do you avoid talking about? We are not here to run away from challenges. We would love for SGA to help promote this survey in order to make sure we are receiving quality data. Once we get all the data cleaned up, share the results with students and focus on what can be fixed right away, longer-term projects will have to be strategized. It is important to create a schedule of how to accomplish these things and hear back from students. We love going to senate every year and discussing what we do, because some students are unaware of what the office does. Our office looks at our policies and their impact. We respond to situations that require student reporting, such as when students are not being treated fairly. These can be reported on ethicspoint on the portal. There needs to be someone that addresses these situations that occur.
iv. Dr. Aisha Carter: In line with the belonging survey, we have the SDAB, which helps us guide policies or things we need to look at. SDAB lets us know the student experience and lets us know what is going on. We started the Fireside chats last year, we would love for SGA to promote it. It is like a town hall, but we call it fireside chat for a more conversational approach. It is a place where you can come and ask questions, it is for the entire student body. It is important to hear what is working well and not working well. The SDAB also reaches out to student organizations, anyone can join the SDAB and the first meeting will be on September 26th. They are trying to do podcasts which this semester will be focused on specific organizations. They are looking for people in the comms school to help with these efforts. A lot of the things we do are absolutely impacting students. Even faculty trainings on diversity and equity end up having an impact on students.
v. Dr. Cornell Craig: We want fireside chats to be opportunities for dialogue. It is helpful for students to have outlets so things can be fixed easily. One of the beauties of the work that we do is that universities are usually broken up into two sides: student affairs and academics. We can fit in both, as we recently opened the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment under our office. There can be some room for improvement in the way curriculums can be delivered. We work with our search committee to make sure they are trained in best practices and that the process is free of bias. The student experience is at the heart of everything we do.
vi. Dr. Aisha Carter: We focus on inclusion and belonging. Recruitment is about bringing students here who are interested in coming to Hofstra. You
might receive emails from me asking if you want to participate in a lunch with prospective students.
vii. Chair Ahmad: In my position I have been working with clubs who have issues with their advisors and there is an issue where not all clubs are treated equally by advisors. How can this be improved?
1. Dr. Craig: This also falls under student affairs. We would be interested in hearing what those experiences are, which would be relayed to OSLE. If there is some bad treatment or organizations that are not supported equally, those should be addressed right away.
viii. Chair Iacobovici: You discussed challenging times and I appreciate how the office is sticking through these tough times. However, what are some specifics like how is the university going to make sure this office will stay intact.
1. Dr. Craig: The President shared in the State of the University that the work of this office is part of the strategic plan which goes until 2035. There are a lot of things happening behind the scenes that are not visible, but something visible is that a while ago there was a conversation with DREAM to look at accessibility around campus. We walked all around campus and looked at areas that could have changes made. We had a laundry list of things to improve on like elevator repairs. We walked over the unispan towards the library and noticed there was one automatic door and the feedback from students was that whether you had accessibility needs or not more people wanted to use that door. It would be helpful to have access points on both sides. We now have automatic doors on both sides thanks to student requests. The steps we take to make campus accessible and more supportive and sometimes visible and sometimes not. In the survey, there will be room for open feedback.
ix. Chair Dzaveluri: We are going through challenging times, and conversations in class can get heated. How can your office handle this conversations and how can SGA help make peace within the student body?
1. Dr. Craig: We often hear from the media there are only two sides, but there are much more sides than that. It is okay to disagree, and we don’t have to hate each other to disagree on a topic. We are supposed to have conversation from different perspectives, it is about who we are and where we grew up. We cannot assume we will all think the same on every topic. There needs to be healthy
dialogue without targeted attacks. There needs to be room to share that in classroom space and faculty needs to have the resources to deal with these situations. It is important to understand the need for healthy debates and dialogue. Success does not mean convincing others to think differently.
2. Dr. Carter: Some of the work CCE has done around civil discourse has been supported by our office. Offering our voice there to facilitate those conversations is critical. At our faculty development workshops we have sessions on how to handle tough conversations, which we have done for a few years, and now the center for learning, teaching, and assessment will help more faculty have access to these workshops.
x. Senator Ehrlich: I have been speaking to people who filed reports on ethicspoint anonymously in order to not face retaliation, they told me that since they filed it anonymously the office could not do much. Is there a way to avoid this dead end where students can only give so much information?
1. Dr. Craig: If you say you saw someone hurt someone we look into it, we say that because of expectations that come with anonymous reports. There can be some limits, but it does not mean nothing is done. If a student feels concerned, I will reinforce retaliation is unacceptable and a violation of university policy. A person can still feel vulnerable putting their name on there, but it does not mean nothing is done. If we get multiple anonymous reports in the same place, it matters.
xi. Senator Ehrlich: When one tries to join Greek life and there are certain requirements, there are people who I have spoken to who have tried joining and the individual does not let them join based on certain criteria. It feels sectionalistic and I wanted to know if your office along with student affairs could collaborate on this.
1. Dr. Craig: If the decision is based on a certain characteristic, that is a whole serious situation. However, if there is a consistent criteria not based on that not much can be done. I would recommend speaking with the Greek life office.
xii. Senator Green: Someone I spoke to had an issue with their professor not calling them by their preferred pronouns. What way can faculty members become more inclusive in terms of accepting students’ pronouns?
1. Dr. Craig: We created the chosen name policy when I first started, and the pronoun option for everyone on campus. We try to get that message out to all faculty and let students know of the chosen
name policy. Every time we meet with faculty we emphasize the importance of this policy and talk about it to new faculty, as it is part of the new faculty orientation. It is something that always needs reinforcement, not all faculty is the same. Even if a mistake is made, faculty should be able to accept the correction from students and work to do better. If a student feels comfortable talking directly to the faculty member, they should do that, if not go to the department chair or dean of the school. We want to know if a faculty member is violating the chosen name policy so we have the space to discuss it.
xiii. Chair Orellana: Recently the provost and president sent out a message to the entire university about the shooting of Charlie Kirk and the need for difficult conversations on campus. What are the plans to deal with these conversations?
1. Dr. Craig: This was something that happened when there was a dialogue with students at a university, we were unaware of the challenging language and statements he made. The president was not defending the person’s ideology, but acknowledging the tragedy of the incident. As a university, we must reinforce our value. At the fireside chats, we encourage difficult conversations. There are a lot of events at the presidential symposium that encourage these conversations.
2. Dr. Carter: This year’s theme for our symposium from our office is academic freedom and the role it plays in democracy. We are encouraging student roundtables to join some of the panels. It is November 6th and email us if you want to take part in the symposium.
3. Dr. Craig: We want a student panel at our symposium that day about the value of academic freedom and the role it plays in your experience. We had a panel on identity politics last year with all white males discussing their role in the political climate.
xiv. Chair Ahmad: I have spoken to Dr. Alan Singer and Dr. Eisenberg and they discussed getting students involved in that panel.
xv. Senator Pierre: Given the recent administration’s and cuts to equity and inclusion programs, were either of you worried about your jobs?
1. Dr. Craig: Yes, there was a lot of uncertainty and anxiety when cuts to federal funding were being discussed. The cause of creating inclusive spaces and giving opportunity to those marginalized is big in this role. I never felt a threat internally and had good conversations with President Poser and our board of trustees that
we would be supported. I have friends at universities who lost their jobs and I cannot say things were always rosy and beautiful. However, opur population is our population meaning we need to serve in as many different ways as there are people on our campus. This incoming freshmen class was our largest and most diverse ever. This is a trend across the country, which is reflective of recent attempts to cut these offices. We need to serve our population regardless of what is going on. Some universities had to change names of their offices to something more milquetoast, but did not get rid of them. Others completely wiped their website clean of anything related to equity and inclusion.
2. Dr. Carter: The work is we are serving the population in all the ways we need to in order for them to be successful.
xvi. Senator Chacon: Regarding our institutional partnership with ChatGPT that was announced, how will that be handled given its tendency to share information that is biased?
1. Dr. Craig: We are working with the office of Teaching, Learning, and Assessment on this. It is important to not allow just any AI and take every output it produces as fact. We are being critical of information we receive and always check sources. People who design AI have biases and AI is trained on biased models. As an institution, we are not running away from it but rather learning how to use it. A key practice is not allowing ChatGPT to run the show, but critically thinking about what ChatGPT says. If you are asking biased questions, you will get biased outputs. Just because you use AI does not mean the responsibility is not on you still. Check sources and ask faculty how AI should be used in that class.
xvii. Chair Dzaveluri: I am all for human advancement and seeing how AI can make life easier, but from my experience and my friends, some professors stopped giving take-home writing assignments due to AI. Research in these departments is always important. How can we prevent students in these departments from using AI so much?
1. Dr. Craig: Handwriting answers has become the answer in some departments. AI should be treated as the beginning of a conversation. Do not make it about AI, make it about you. It is unfortunate that some faculty have gone this route, but we will adjust. You will ultimately become a better professional by doing that extra work.
2. Dr. Carter: This is faculty’s first time too in many cases. They are trying to figure out the best way to include critical thinking in the
class and establish rigor. By adopting that internal ChatGPT, it is all for the reasons that we make the needed changes and adapt appropriately in real-time. Faculty will be trained on how this ChatGPT should be used.
xviii. President Quail: What is your favorite part about what you do here?
1. Dr. Carter: Applying research of what you have been learning and practicing, seeing what it means for student engagement and building a pathway, to actually apply what you’ve been learning. Seeing the growth of the last several years is my favorite part and for me personally just putting that knowledge into practice and the results.
2. Dr. Craig: I would say seeing growth from students. Seeing students develop into adults and world-changers. The specific work around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is very important to me. My experiences became bridges to other experiences. We all have areas of privilege we benefit from. No matter our background or experience we all have our areas, which really drives me. It is about understanding the areas where we feel challenged. Email us at equity@hofstra.edu
C. Approval of the Minutes
a. Chair Iacovobici moves to pass the Senate minutes from 9/11
i. Motion Seconded
ii. Motion Passed
b. Senator Ehrlich moves to pass the Cabinet minutes from 9/17
i. Motion Seconded
ii. Motion Passed
D. E-board Reports
a. President
i. Cabinet minutes
ii. University Senate meeting
iii. Overnight@Hofstra
iv. Meetings tomorrow
1. Hofstra Concerts
2. VP Eads
3. Panhel
v. Meeting with President Poser next week
b. Vice President
i. Senate Retreat
1. September 27th, 10 AM
a. SENATE RETREAT ATTENDANCE
i. qr code
2. Post retreat D+B
ii. Dress Codes and Etiquette for Senate Guests
iii. New Senators next week
1. Elections Bash
c. Comptroller
i. Student Catering Guide price increases
1. SGA is covering price differences for clubs when we can!
ii. Advisor Breakdown
1. Helping advisors support clubs!
iii. Starting Music Fest Conversations
d. Secretary
i. Room Request Form
ii. Catering Request Form- 2 weeks in advance of an event, make sure you are using the new catering guide
iii. Cub-Lion Form- ASAP!
iv. Office hours- 2 hours for chairs and 1 hour for senators in increments of at least 30 minutes- if you forget to sign out text me, but if you do not sign in I cannot mark you as complete for the week even if you were in the office!!
v. Make sure you quickly proofread senate minutes after each meeting- they will be going on the website and please make sure your words are accurately represented
E. Committee Chair Reports
a. Appropriations
i. 9/16 Minutes
ii. Treasurer Training makeups are underway!
1. One makeup was done this past monday, next monday I have a few more!
iii. Treasurer Training was a success!
1. 85% average! About 166 clubs!
2. Shoutout to Maddie for being so awesome last week!
iv. Funded three clubs this week!
1. 2 were 100% funded
2. 1 was 74.72% funded
v. Brainstorming ways to educate more students on the appropriations process and resources
1. Tabling?
2. Collaboration with Kyle for the social media!
b. Club Resources
i. 9/15 Minutes
ii. Election campaigns are going so well!
1. Elections are from Monday to Wednesday
iii. Club Check-ins and Recognition Process in the ways
1. Looking forward to new clubs and organizations on campus!
iv. Club Office walkthroughs to ensure utilization
c. Communications
i. Minutes
ii. Tune Tuesday
iii. Birthday Graphic
d. Programming
➔ minutes
➔ Hofstra Hunts Oct 8-Nov 26
➔ More club Collab!!
➔ Build a friend planning going great!
➔ Field day postponed...
1. Next semester though!!!
e. Academic Affairs
i. AA minutes 09/18
1. Meeting with Dr.Blue
a. AI prevention/Syllabus standardized form
2. Meeting with First Gen office
a. Better ways to approach and connect with the students
3. How to Survive Your First Semester (And Beyond)
a. Sept 24th, Netherlands north
f. Equity & Inclusion
i. Minutes
ii. Rep Your Flag!
1. Tomorrow!!! Pride Park!! 12-3PM!!
2. Thank you to those who signed up to the table!
3. Even if you’re not tabling: Come out! Free Food, DJ, Performances, Yard Games!
iii. National Coming Out Day
1. October 9th 11AM-3PM Student Atrium
2. Tabling Sheet Coming Soon
a. Consulting with Hugo first
iv. World Gala
1. Collaboration with Anthropology Club
2. November 6th 5-8PM MPR
v. Meeting with Cornell Craig 9/29
vi. STAY FOR A SENATE PIC YAY TAKEOVER
g. Facilities & Operations
i. Minutes
ii. Boost Update
iii. Campus-Wide Survey for Fitness Center
h. Wellness & Campus Safety
i. Minutes
ii. Hofstra Hope Fest SEPTEMBER 29TH!!
iii. Rachel on the Run - filming the first video at Nene’s event on Monday!
iv. Finalizing the Plan Van contract tomorrow with Brittany
v. Meeting with Public Safety on Monday, let me know if there’s anything you want me to bring up :)
F. Approval of Committee Minutes
a. Chair Iacobovici moves to pass the committee minutes from 9/15.
i. Motion seconded
ii. Motion passed
b. Chair Denson moves to pass the allocations from 9/16.
i. Motion seconded
ii. Motion passed
c. Comptroller Skeldon moves to close the gallery
i. Motion seconded
ii. Motion passed
G. For Good of the Order
a. Chair Jacob: Rachel on the Run
i. 3 people collaborating right now, let Rachel know if you want to join in
ii. Teach Rachel about thanksgiving
b. ADA button at Breslin not working
c. Chair Orellana: All 5 clubs for International food week confirmed!
H. Announcements
a. Follow Maddie’s band @skellhouseband
I. Snap Cup
J. Adjournment
a. Chair Iacobovici moves to adjourn this meeting
i. Motion seconded
ii. Motion passed
1. Meeting adjourned at 8:20 PM EST
Meeting Commenced: 6:30 pm
Attendance:
Comptroller Maddie Skeldon
Chair Nene Dzaveluri
Senator Harish Subramanian
Senator Prahlad Peri
Senator Alexander Green
Senator Patrick Bruso
Senator Jake Urban
Late:
Senator Daniel Malayeri
Absent:
Agenda:
Appropriations Committee Minutes Fall 2025 Meeting
PPAW Conference Room 260D 9/16/25 - 6:30pm
● Icebreaker - If you could live in a movie/TV/book world, which would it be?
● Budgets will open up on October 10th and will close on October 24th!
○ Budget Weekend:
■ October 31st at 12 pm- 4 pm
■ November 1st at 12 pm- 4 pm
■ November 4th at 6:30- completion
○ Budget Reviews (will count for office hours!)
■ Monday, October 20th at 1 pm
■ Wednesday, October 22nd at 1 pm
■ Thursday, October 23rd at 1 pm
■ Friday, October 24th at 1 pm
● Allocations Assignments!
○ 6:35 pm - American Society of Mechanical Engineers- Jake, Harish
○ 6:40 pm - Project EmpowHer- Alex, Nene, Prahlad
○ 6:45 pm - African Student Association- Daniel, Pat
● Comptroller Financial Report
Allocations:
● The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is requesting money for parts and apparel because of a lack of budget
● Debate: Are the sweatshirts merchandise or uniforms?
○ Consensus: Not funding hoodies because they are not distinct to Hofstra or required
○ Reduces total to $1362.33 from the original total $1823.13
● Senator Dzaveluri moves to allocate $399.95 for Line Item 1; Seconded by Senator Green, motion passed
● Senator Urban moves to allocate $250 for Line Item 2; Seconded by Senator Green, motion passed
● Senator Urban moves to allocate $663.43 for Line Item 3; Seconded by Senator Green, motion passed
● Senator Peri moves to allocate $460.80 for Line Item 4; not seconded, motion not passed
● Senator Urban moves to allocate $48.95 for Line Item 5; Seconded by Senator Green, motion passed, for a total of $1362.33
● Project EmpowHer requesting money for Flower Bouquet making/self-care event on Sept. 17th, changing request from previously allocated funds for different event which was cancelled
● Senator Green moves to allocate $450.52 for Line Item 1; Seconded by Senator Peri, motion passed
● African Student Association requesting funds for ASA gala, have already been allocated around $3000, requesting $1272.45 in addition, mostly for clothes.
● Senator Dzaveluri moves to allocate $1272.45 for Line Item 1; Seconded by Senator Green, motion passed
Meeting Adjourned: 7:03pm
Respectfully Submitted, Chair Bianca Yepez
Late Arrival
Absent
Visitors!
Meeting Agenda
Fall 2025
6:32 pm, Sep 15, 2025
SGA Conference Room
6:31 p.m.
Chair Maisa Ahmad
Chair Ronit Malhotra
Senator Dayanna Rubio-Chacon
Senator Abigail Rades
Senator Tara Yari
Associate Ava DiSanto
Senator Adiba Mansour
President Quail
I. Icebreaker
A. If you could swap lives with any cartoon character, who would it be?
II. Chair Updates
A. Elections Infosessions!
1. Campaign period started today at 12pm.
a) Keep any eye out for any flyers, etc. that are inappropriate or don’t say “OSLE approved” ( for physical flyers)
b) Campaigning period ends on Sunday at 11:59pm
B. Club Recognition Committee Dates
1. Monday, September 22 @1:30pm-3:00pm
a) Jack
b) Abigail
c) Adiba
2. Wednesday, September 24 @1:30pm-3:00pm
a) Ronit
b) Abigail
c)
3. Friday, September 26 @10am-12pm
a) Dayanna
b) Abigail
c)
4. Wednesday, October 1 @1pm-3pm
a) Tara
b)
c)
5. Friday, October 3 @9:15am-11:45am
a) Abigail
b) Tara
c)
III. Constitution Change
A. Welcome Hofstra Sitare!
1. Old constitution
2. New constitution is linked in email
a) To run for president, you must have a prior Sitare EBOARD position
b) New chair positions
B. Deliberation:
1. Chair positions are really cool!
Senator Tara moves to moves to approve the new constitutional changes for Hofstra Sitare as of September 2025
2. Senator Rades seconds the motion.
IV. Upcoming!
A. Club Masterlist is in the works…
B. Rep Your Flag Day on Friday!
V. Reminders
A. Be sure to take a look at the CR policies. It is definitely long but not a hard read! It will be GREAT if we all have an understanding of the policies.
B. You can reach me at (832) 417 7912 if you have any questions or need anything at all!
Meeting Adjourned 6:45 pm
Respectfully Submitted,
Maisa Ahmad
Club Resources Chair
Communications Committee PAPER Meeting
Student Center Rm 145 September 15, 2025
Meeting Called to Order: 6:00 pm
Quorum
Present:
Chair Kyle Denson
Chair Rachel Jacob
Senator Logan Finkelstein
Absent:
Agenda:
1. Icebreaker
a. N/A
2. Updates
a. The cabinet photoshoot went well!!
i. Once I get the photos from Matteo, I will start working on updating the SGA website
b. Thursday Takeover and Feature Friday start this week
i. Takeover will be Chair Celeste
ii. Feature will be Senator Dayanna (next week we will highlight a committee - which committee should we do?)
c. Rachel on the Run will continue with collabs from other chairs and senators!
i. More funny while still being informative
3. Business
a. New pinned post going up next week will be about voting in the SGA election and how to vote
i. Anything specific you think I should include?
b. We want to increase our Reels content as much as possible, any Reel ideas you think would be fun at Cabinet or Senate?
i. Why you should vote in the SGA election (hear from different senators perspectives, reiterate that you can vote for as many people as you want, when voting is, etc.)
Reminders:
● I hope you are having a great day! See you at next week's committee :)
● If you have to miss committee, please email VP, Secretary, and me. If you are missing Senate, make sure to email the VP and Secretary. It needs to be 24 hours in advance!
Meeting Adjourned: 6:__ pm
Respectfully submitted, Kyle Denson
Communications Chair
Attended
