In their 30 weeks leading the Student Government Association (SGA), President Kyle Maclaughlin and Vice President Dillion Peterson said they’ve made great strides in improving student life at Point Park.
Maclaughlin is graduating at the end of the semester, while Peterson, a senior, will remain in SGA as a senator. Under their leadership, SGA said they increased accessibility on campus and campaigned CulinArt to allow for two meals per day to be ordered through Boost, among other changes.
“I think what I’m most proud of is the accessibility stuff,” Maclaughlin said. “Even though it was a lot of small changes, I felt like it [had] a big impact.”
Peterson echoed Maclaughlin’s sentiment.
“[The university] said, ‘Let’s assume that we are at code,’ and I said, ‘We’re not at code, so what we need to do is get to code and then we can see what we could do from there,’” Peterson said.
Peterson was especially proud of the additional Boost meal, he said.
“Last year when CulinArt visited us [as senators], they told us it was never gonna happen and then it did happen,” Peterson said. “So I’m really happy that that changed.”
Besides getting Point Park’s campus to be ADA compliant, Maclaughlin said he was also proud of SGA’s effort to bar Starbucks products from Point Perk.
“Being able to advocate for an issue; both [Starbucks] labor issues and their lack of support for Palestine, it was really important for me to try to make SGA a cudgel for that,” Maclaughlin said. “And I’m really glad I was able to do that.”
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, though, as both Maclaughlin and Peterson said they had regrets pertaining to their leadership.
For Maclaughlin, he said SGA did not do enough to communicate or connect with the student body.
“There were a lot of meetings we had to improve student conditions,” Maclaughlin said. “And we did a lot of advocating for specific student issues that people brought to us. But, I don’t know if we quite [had] the most effective messaging about that.”
Peterson said his remorse was more policy-oriented, and that student parking was a major effort that SGA wasn’t able to cross the finish line on.
“[SGA and administration] have been desperately working on [parking] since the 1990s,” Peterson said. “It’s just the thing that everybody wants to do something about.”
Peterson said SGA made an effort to ask Port Authority officials to recognize Point Park students as Downtown residents. They said they hoped that would get students some form of discount at Port Authority-affiliated parking garages.
But Peterson said their contact was on sick leave.
“I wish we could have had a little bit more progress,” Peterson said. “So that’s something that I’m disappointed we didn’t get to in time.”
In closing, Maclaughlin said he looked forward to President-elect Christian Rangel’s upcoming spot at the helm of SGA.
“[Rangel has] talked to me about some of his initiatives, and he’s very committed, and he has some really good ideas,” Maclaughlin said. “So I’m definitely interested to see how things turn out.”
Maclaughlin added that he hopes his own initiatives have longevity under Rangel. Maclaughlin specifically mentioned the Village Park heaters, whose funding was approved on April 7, as one of those initiatives.
“In my mind, that’s my Affordable Care Act,” Maclaughlin said. “That’s my thing that I’m like ‘OK, I’m on the way out. I gotta put that in.’”
