Vice president Seth Gladyz and vice president of marketing and communications Christina Lee opened the senate meeting by creating an assembly line filled with candy and sweets. The Student Government Association spent the beginning of their time filling Valentine’s Day goodie bags to pass out to students across campus. 

STUDENT ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 

Sophomore business administration major and Student Alumni Association president Sarah Hartono and junior business administration major Noah Beery, SAA’s recruitment coordinator, visited SGA to explain their growing organization. This is SAA’s second year on campus. SAA has added a recruitment coordinator, an events coordinator and several other logistical positions to their team this semester. 

The association is participating in “I Heart Biola” week Feb. 24 to 27, by hosting different events each day. The representatives spoke about having a table to write thank-you notes at the center of campus and partnering with the Student Missionary Union for a pop-up shop. SAA hopes to strengthen its relationship with SGA and be featured in the SGA newsletter. 

SPRING FORMAL DANCE

Hope International University, a small Christian college in Fullerton, California, had reached out to SGA over social media in hopes of creating a relationship with fellow Christian students. HIU’s student body president, Tony Huerta, visited this week’s senate meeting to give an overview of HIU’s student government structure and pitch the idea of a collaborative dance. The dance would be hosted by HIU at a venue outside of both HIU’s and Biola’s campuses and would require formal attire. 

The senators discussed ways to poll students on the idea of creating a dance open to all students across campus. Gladyz proposed creating a survey to identify the number of students interested in the HIU event.

FACILITIES 

Over the course of the week, senators polled constituents regarding maintenance issues in their respective dorms. Some of the complaints include an uncontrollable sprinkler in Alpha Hall, partially transparent shower curtains in Hart Hall and entrance key failures in the Tropicana Apartments. 

Maintenance supervisor Eddie Fernandez visited to take questions and complaints from the senators. Fernandez explained that Facilities Management hopes to make Biola the best “home away from home” as possible. He suggested that students with a maintenance issue should dial the extension x4898 from an on-campus phone when assistance is needed. 

BUDGET HISTORY

Vice president of finance, human resources and technology Thomas Burgess presented a spreadsheet portraying SGA’s contingency over time from 2015 to 2020. Burgess explained that a new memorandum will be proposed and voted on within the next few weeks regarding SGA’s responsibility to steward student fees.