Despite SGA having no official business during Monday’s meeting, senators and staffers alike discussed new initiatives such as an additional Pioneer Pause day, a “welcome back” prom and several other topics.

Senators spent time discussing their spring projects, end-of-semester goals and general questions.

Still, SGA did take care of the few reports listed. For instance, in line with the 2025-2026 academic year being longer than previous years, the Student Government Association (SGA) proposed reforming funding bylaws for clubs, which could allow for a winter funding round.

According to Parliamentarian Sienna Wraith, the reform is being proposed due to the extended winter break, which goes on for five weeks opposed to the four weeks of previous years. Additionally, the bylaw proposes standardized guidelines for budget requests to make sure each request is properly formatted.

Additionally, Vice President Madigan Balfe gave updates on the club space improvement initiative, which Balfe said is a new committee designed to see what clubs on campus need better facilities and how improvements can be made. Balfe said they obtained the contact information of every club from Director of SAIL Keely Sapienza with the hopes of sending SGA members to different clubs for gathering feedback.

Right before senators discussed projects and goals, President Pro-Tempore Caleb Clemmons said he hopes to see participation from all senators, not just a select few.

“A few of you are very proactive, and I love what you’re doing,” Clemmons said, “but it’s getting to a point where those people are doing a whole lot, and I’m worried about how they’re feeling about SGA as a whole.”

Clemmons went on to describe senators not submitting senator reports, asking if there was something he could do to get information from senators to the rest of SGA in a better way.

Sen. Jayama Biagini was the only senator to give any suggestions, saying reminders in the senator Slack chat every week for responsibilities and needs would be beneficial.

Dean of Student Life Michael Gieseke was in attendance and proposed a welcome back prom event for the first Saturday back from winter break. Gieseke asked SGA for help deciding the event’s theme, what prizes could be available and what it should look like.

Gieseke said SGA would not need to find funding for the prom, as he said he would take care of purchasing items. An unofficial vote on planning prom had unanimous approval.

As for senator projects and end-of-semester goals, Sen. Jayden Cochran said he is working alongside Diversity, Equity, Wellness and Inclusion (DEWI) chair Bianca Dixon on a student theatre advocacy ad-hoc committee. Cochran said he spoke to COPA students on the process for registering practice rooms, which Cochran said could be made more accessible.

“Right now, it seems like most students have adopted the method of viewing the posted schedules and refraining from using the rooms when they’re blocked out,” Cochran said. “I want to figure out how to make that information more widespread or create a public way for students to register.”

Discussions about food on campus were brought up again during this meeting, with Sen. Justice Sheppard saying meal plans could be useful off campus and Sen. Kirshma Sharifi saying the prices for goods at the Point Café could be adjusted.

Gieseke chimed in on the meal plan question, saying once again that national chains are not interested in working with Point Park, but small businesses such as Nicholas Coffee or La Gourmandine shouldn’t be ruled out.

Additionally, Gieseke said the Point Café’s prices are regularly compared to other nearby convenience stores to be level with what’s around campus, such as Smithfield News.

“Do your own comparisons a little bit,” Gieseke said. “That way you can challenge us if we’re really off on that.”

Sen. Zoe Cybulski said businesses such as Smithfield News and Ritik’s Bank Tower Market do not price goods reasonably, so it would not be fair for the university to try to match prices of shops like those. Balfe said SGA would have to get “really loud” about the issue of food prices to make changes and recommended action for the spring semester.

Besides meal plans and flex dollars, Balfe said SGA President Christian Rangel, who was absent but excused from the meeting because he attended the monthly faculty assembly meeting, wanted to support those in food insecure situations. This includes those experiencing a lack of SNAP funding or a lack of access to food. Balfe suggested a collaboration between SGA and the Pioneer Pantry.

Beyond food, another topic which created discussion was the possibility of having a second Pioneer Pause during the spring semester. Sen. Biagini brought the topic up, saying she knows people who say it would be beneficial.

Gieseke said he was open to the idea, but warned that the spring semester has a built-in spring break. He said Thanksgiving break is its own thing but was unlike other universities’ fall breaks.

Balfe said a Pioneer Pause before finals week would be beneficial, but this was met with concern from Dixon, who said a pause right before finals would do more harm than good.

The next SGA meeting is on Nov. 10 at Lawrence Hall 200 at 3:15 p.m.