On Thursday, Sept. 26, the United Student Government (USG) elected Sen. Matt Schumacher, FCRH ’20, as president pro tempore.

The meeting proceeded with reports from senators from the class of 2020. Sen. Domenic Setaro, FCRH ’20, gave the first report concerning efforts to increase feedback from the student body and the Dining Committee’s goals following its appearance at last week’s Student Life Council meeting.

Currently, the Dining Committee is working on a resolution with Aramark following the controversy stemming from Aramark’s decision to confiscate chairs from employees in the Marketplace. Setaro also mentioned that the Dining Committee is still looking for new members. The meetings are Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m., and any student interested in joining can contact Setaro at dsetaro@fordham.edu.

Schumacher discussed compiling a resource list of easy ways to find student necessities either on OrgSync or the Fordham website.

Sen. Emily Silfies, GSB ’20, introduced an initiative to increase knowledge of how students can utilize mental health resources at Fordham University. This initiative would include a chart with a detailed explanation of what happens when a student goes to Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) to prevent students from feeling intimidated.

Another initiative concerned creating an event celebrating LGBTQ+ identities during October for LGBTQ+ History Month and National Coming Out Day. This event would raise awareness of businesses owned by LGBTQ+ individuals in the community, as well as be a space where non-LGBTQ+ students could show support for the community.

Sen. Simon Rodriguez, GSB ’20, proposed two initiatives, Deck the Halls and Lingua Franca. The Deck the Halls Initiative is targeted towards students that stay at Fordham over Christmas break, and would establish where they could stay and have a Christmas dinner on campus. The Lingua Franca Initiative focuses on ensuring that international students can communicate comfortably in their native language in counseling services or suggestion boards.

Following the senate reports, Vice President of Finance and Budgets Elizabeth Bjorkland, FCRH ’21, said the Finance and Budgets Committee had $21,249.71 worth of funding left to allocate to clubs this semester. She also went over the committee’s current goals, which included increasing the efficiency and ease of the funding process, as well as ensuring that the funding given would be as effective as possible.

Vice President of GSB Reilly Keane, GSB ’21, provided updates on the Transfer Mentorship Program, where new transfers are paired with upperclassmen in order to ease their integration, and proposed a similar program to give GSB sophomores more support during the cohorts.

Students can follow the FCRH Dean’s Council’s Instagram, @fcrhdeanscouncil, for updates on events and opportunities at Rose Hill.