At USG’s meeting on Thursday, Nov. 21, a representative from Every Vote Counts (EVC),  a “student-led, nonpartisan organization dedicated to increasing voter turnout and expanding voter access nationwide,” according to the EVC website, discussed the group’s “Time Off To Vote” initiative. It seeks to convince schools and businesses around the country to grant time off to vote. The Fordham EVC chapter is currently looking for the student government to provide signatures on a Student Body Letter that will be sent to companies. Due to an approved motion to table, USG will not be taking immediate action regarding this initiative.

Another public concern was brought to the attention of the USG by Sen. Jhan Alex Chavez, GSB ’23. He stated that there was an incident during the President’s Ball with a commuter student in Loyola Hall. The student swiped into Loyola Hall in order to use the restroom and was addressed with hostility by a security guard. The incident has also been reported to the Office of Residential Life.

Sen. Carsyn Fisher, FCRH ’21, presented the first draft of the Fordham Land Acknowledgment statement. She stated that she was currently working on getting the acknowledgment posted on the Fordham website under the “Diversity at Fordham” page.

Sen. Arianna Chen, FCRH ’22, presented a proposal for a gender-inclusive pronoun policy on class syllabi. The proposal would change the current opt-in gender-inclusive pronoun policy into one that would be a mandatory addition to syllabi. Both proposals were unanimously approved, pending quorum.

Vice President of GSB Reilly Keane, GSB ’21, presented pending revisions to the GSB Dean’s Council bylaws.

Vice President of Finance and Budgets Elizabeth Bjorklund, FCRH ’21, presented the Budget Committee bylaws’ pending revisions, which seek to simplify fund allocations for clubs with changes such as the ability to change dates for an event after the date has already passed, the ability to reallocate money granted for another event and simplified requests for funds going to Fordham-approved vendors. Both pending changes were unanimously approved.

During the cabinet reports, Vice President of Health and Security Emma Budd, FCRH ’20, spoke about the Calls for Justice initiative, which takes old phones and loads them with prepaid minutes to give to women in domestic violence shelters.

Students are highly encouraged to drop off old phones at their Residence Hall Office (RHO) between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. or at the Fordham IT customer care office from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. However, it is important that students log out of their iCloud accounts before donating any old iPhones.

Finally, the last Student Life Council meeting of the fall semester will be on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 2:30 p.m. in Bepler Commons.