Hello Illinois Tech, hope all is well and that your midterms are as well! The Student Government Association (SGA) held its third Senate meeting on February 18th. We started the meeting with Executive Vice President, Silva Jr., announcing that from now on, all SGA meetings will be recorded and posted on the SGA YouTube Channel for public access. You can find the channel at www.youtube.com/@sga.illinoistech.
Next on the agenda, we had a handful of inaugurations to fill the many vacant senate seats, starting with Aidan Crouch for the College of Architecture (CoA) seat. At the last Senate meeting, Crouch was elected by the Senate for the CoA seat and was sworn into office at 6:51 p.m.
Next on the docket, Senator and Hawkeye Syed Qadri nominated two students for senator, nominating Hasan Hammad for the 1st Year Senator seat and Bo Phone Myat Ko for the College of Computing seat. Hamad saw this opportunity to be able to voice concerns and struggles other students might face, and is fully committed to addressing such issues and creating solutions. Bo also expressed similar passions. Bo wants to reassure his peers that they are being heard and are striving to get students engaged and involved on campus. Both students were elected by a unanimous vote in favor of inaugurating them to their respective seats. Hammad was sworn into SGA at 7:05 p.m., and shortly after, Bo was sworn in at 7:07 p.m. After handling new business, we then moved straight to the executive reports.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT:
President Yailine Cano announced that students may directly email sga.judicial@illinoistech.edu with any matters they would like kept confidential by the Judicial Board. Cano also shared that the SGA is currently seeking members to serve on the Executive Election Committee. In addition, students interested in running for certain executive positions must have prior experience within SGA to be eligible for the upcoming elections, unlike in previous years, when anyone with no experience was able to run.
Email sga.president@illinoistech.edu with any concerns or questions regarding the SGA.
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT (EVP) REPORT:
EVP, Silva Jr., announced that a “Get to know the Senate” is now posted and available for students to come by and see who their representing senators are. With this new board, students will be able to know who they should reach out to regarding anything they would like to address. This can be located by the revolving doors on the east side of MTCC (the doors that are closest to the McCormick Student Village (MSV) Dormitories). Silva Jr. also reinforced senators to continue to talk to their constituents to ensure they are actively fulfilling their duty as servants to the student body.
Email sga.senate@illinoistech.edu with any concerns or questions regarding the SGA Senate.
COMMITTEE REPORT:
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee announced a couple of events in the future in collaboration with other cultural student organizations. A Holi event in collaboration with the Indian Student Association (ISA) is coming up in the next couple of weeks on March 7th, and a tentative date has been released for disco night on March 13th. More information to come.
The Student Life Committee is also currently working on a campus-wide survey allowing students to fill out and submit concerns they believe are in need of attention. These concerns can be about campus dining, residence life, and/or campus life.
SENATORS’ REPORT:
Senator Nikunj Menghan spoke about staffing issues in the Elevate Underground Space, as reported by members of the Illinois Tech Robotics club. Portions of last semester and the start of this semester were disrupted due to the frequent nonattendance of assigned workers at the front desk. The uncertainty surrounding lab hours impacted student productivity, slowing project progress and limiting reliable workspace for club and personal initiatives. This has raised concerns that university funds are allocated to these paid positions while not fulfilling their duties as expected. Menghan urged SGA to investigate the matter, ensure accountability, and confirm that campus resources are being used effectively in support of students.
Senator Tengis Munkhbat also called college senators to speak with their respective deans to discuss how both parties could help each other so that issues at school can be solved efficiently and effectively. Munkhbat wanted to emphasize the fact that the collective student voice is indispensable to the further development of our campus and student life.
OPEN FLOOR:
Before the meeting adjourned, several senators spoke during open floor. Second-year Senator Roberto Cassano raised concerns following an unfortunate series of incidents in the CoA. Earlier that same day, multiple students had personal belongings stolen from their bags and desks while attending a lecture just next door. After the incident, Public Safety and building administrators were contacted and are currently reviewing available camera footage. However, the studios where the thefts occurred do not have cameras, limiting what can be confirmed.
The situation has understandably frustrated many students, especially given that studio spaces are open to the public during certain hours throughout the week. While this accessibility allows visitors to tour Crown Hall, it also means individuals who are not students or faculty can enter the building without much oversight. Several senators joined the discussion, suggesting possible solutions such as installing cameras, adding a reception desk, or restricting building access only to architecture students. Second-year Senators Abigail Dimodica and Cassano, along with Crouch, EVP Silva Jr., and myself are now working together to explore next steps to help strengthen safety and security within the CoA.
Another topic that arose from the open floor was concerns about the facilities. Senator Jes John Tetedje voiced concerns about the conditions in classrooms. Many students know that, in classrooms, it can get unreasonably warm at times, making it practically uncomfortable. In addition to facilities, Senator Jade Hutchingson also expressed the poor conditions of the communal restrooms and showers in Kacek Hall, mentioning occasional flooding that would leave a stream of water across the restroom floors. Also, Senator Bailey Bathje and Dimodica expressed the lack of urgency or diligence from facility maintenance, replying to requests days later, and facility maintenance showed up unannounced and randomly without notice. Senators proposed that maintenance can simply send out a text letting residents know that they are on their way. President Cano and EVP Silva Jr. are now introducing these senators to the leadership who oversee the facilities and residence halls to hopefully and potentially come up with a way to fix the current system.
After over half an hour of discussions and open floor, the meeting was adjourned at 8:12 p.m., concluding the third senate meeting of the semester. The next Senate meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 4th, at 6:30 p.m. in the MTCC Ballroom, and everyone is welcome to attend.