Agenda of the Senate Hofstra University Student Government Association (3rd of September, 2026) Hofstra University Call to order Meeting Called to order at 6:06pm EST 1. Quorum Call a. Quorum set to 32 2. New Business a. Chair Bokhari moved to open the gallery i. Welcome Special Guest!! a. Hugo Morales: I am here to talk about our office and give out some candy! I work in the office of Intercultural Engagement & Inclusion at Hofstra. Our service works to create a welcoming environment on campus, to feel safer, and to their intercultural awareness. We help to develop cultural understanding, awareness and create a sense of belonging. We want our students to attend our programmes and get to know us. We collaborate with other organizations on campus. The list of programmes for this semester is being passed. Our first program is on the 3rd, and we’re showing the filming of Encanto. It will be in pride park. On the 15th of november, we have hispanic heritage month. The first is La Bienvenida at Hofstra. They are open to all students and staff on campus. It is Hispanic heritage month for all countries. It is to build community. I am super excited about this event because we are doing a lot of work. For this event, we are doing a museum sort of event. We have the MPR. One side is going to be art of latina artists, some have passed and some are still alive. The former provost in residence is going to speak on art. His name is Jose Daniel. He will be leading the tour of the artwork and on the other side we are going to do different genres of music like salsa, tango, etc. There will be a laptop at the table showing this music. It will show the music travelled from and across Latin America. It will show how drums, for example, played in different parts
of the world. It will be called the sound of america and the art side will be called mujeres; dangerous women. The other event is called cafecito and careers, and we have latino business owners to connect with students, and coffee, and there will be snacks. October is LGBTQ+ history month. First is national coming out day, Queer@Hofstra which will feature films across time. Some will be sad and some that are happy. We are also having a drag story time. The drag queen is reading children's story books. We are trying to do things to help those in the LGBTQ community. The rest of our events are in October, November, and December, including Laugh Therapy. It will be a good way to laugh and destress. I am working with Grace from Student Health. I also advise the identity-based groups on campus, running from African Students Association to QTPOC, SASA, CIAO, etc. I am not bombarding you with 500 emails, just one with the programs that are happening. In room 260, we have a lending library where students can check out books on different topics including literature, women studies, etc. It is good for leisure. We have two bookcases. Any suggestions of programs we can do for next semester, next year? b. Senator Pierre: What’s the difference between your office and the Office of Equity & Inclusion? i. Hugo: The office of equity and inclusion and us are like siblings, but there is more about faculty and sometimes students. They do work for those populations. They have a student diversity advisory board as well. They are more focused on the employee and community side, whereas we are more focused on student programming and creating a sense of belonging. Dr. Craig’s and Dr. Carter’s office is under the provost office which is under the academic side. c. Senator Pierre: The Center for Race, Culture and Social Justice is experiencing lots of budget cuts. Do you plan on supporting by collaboration? i. Hugo: Yes there are budget cuts across the board. Unfortunately no, that has not been in conversation but not off the table. I appreciate you bringing that up and I will bring that up to them. d. Chair Chauhan: For identity-based clubs, is there something SGA can do to better help support them that we maybe haven’t thought about? I am going to get in touch with you about those frequently asked questions. i. Hugo: That's a great question. I am not sure how to answer that. I do get a lot of questions and SGA is very present in the office. I have to think about that further. A lot of students ask me things and I find myself recording videos. Mauve that on how to do certain procedures. Some sort of videos on how to do certain things to clarify questions. My door is always open to students.
e. Senator Smook: I have an idea for next semester, What about an LGBTQ event for valentines day focusing on queer relationships. Also, can you tell us more about the culturally correct Halloween event? i. Hugo: I will write that down. The Halloween event is focused on FSL. I am working with Taylor and the person who is going to be in the role soon. That event is about Halloween and being culturally appropriate, and the difference between appreciation and appropriation. Everyone is welcome to attend. f. Chair Bokhari: What about a dinner for Ramadan for muslim students. i. Hugo: I would love to look into that! I’ll reach out and see what we can do. b. 10 minute break
c. Constitutional Review i. Suspension of the rules a. Chair Chauhan moved to suspend the rules b. Motion seconded c. Motion passed ii. Questions a. Senator Chacon: I don’t see why you are pushing for a four-fifths majority if you tried this last year and it didn’t pass. b. Chair Chauhan: You cannot serve a constitution you don’t agree with. If there is a change, a lot of people need to see reasoning in it. I am happy to talk about it. c. Senator Pierre moved for a 5-minute moderated caucus on Article IV Section II i. Motion seconded ii. Motion passed iii. Senator Pierre: I agree with the previous Senator because ⅘ is a lot more complicated because there are fewer people. It makes it seem like people who don’t want to approve the Constitution may get swept over. iv. Senator Hoffman: I think that because the student body changes so often, that's why it's ⅔ and not majority. v. Chair Dzaveluri:I think the whole point of con con is to make changes now. It is to give suggestions and change the Constitution. If 30 something people agree on one solid constitution, there should not be any point to change the constitution that has already been written as we speak. vi. Senator Urban: I have to disagree, while this is a Con Con and we are trying to get this right, we are going to get it wrong. Aspects of this are going to change and we need to
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have the proper legislation. I don't understand why we are making it harder when it is constantly changing. Chair Chauhan: That's not true, we are solidifying our governing documents. Making the threshold for voting slightly higher, does not make it harder for legislation to be passed, it is to make the document have enough longevity and to keep up with what SGA is doing. There are so many provisions that make sure SGA stays updated like a 10 year review. Voting does not change if the threshold changes. That value isn’t intrinsic. The ⅔ change to ⅘ doesnt mean your vote becomes any more or less. There is no change like this made in the policy series. The Constitution is what we are. If the foundation isn't solid, the house is gonna fall. We are making it so SGA is stronger. Senator Hoffman: Keeping the threshold at ⅔. Senator Smook: moves to extend speaking time by 5 minutes 1. Motion passed 2. Motion seconded Senator Hoffman: It seems like the smaller threshold of no’s is forcing people to vote when they may not want to. Chair Dzaveluri: We are not pressuring people to vote. Senator Pierr: As for longevity, documents can maintain their longevity without exceeding their threshold limits. I am more confused on the ⅘ vote vs the ¾ vote. It's clear that the ¾ has maintained its longevity. We haven’t made changes to that. I still believe that you can maintain power without exceeding any limits. Senator Tenevrsuo: I am not in favor of ⅘. If we need a solid foundation, we need a better product. In congress and state conventions you need ⅔. This constitution shouldn't have to change continuously. ⅘ is too much. It's too big of a barrier. Senator Urban: I believe that raising the threshold of the vote does increase the difficulty of the vote. That’s why unanimous votes are so hard. Increasing to ⅘ increases the likelihood that whoever rejects can stop the action entirely. Chair Chauhan: I completely understand. We are all here to come together to agree on everything written here. I understand not all of us will come to that but the whole
point is to come to a part where some of us can somewhat agree that we feel comfortable enough serving xvi. the documents. That’s also the point of changing this. You shouldn’t be allowed to change your constitution every day. We often don’t even understand what we are voting for sometimes. To increase this threshold is to make sure we are not doing that over and over again, and to make sure everything we pass is understood and has value. d. Senator Gillani moves for a strawpoll of Article IV Section 2 on amending ⅘ to ⅔. i. Motion seconded ii. Motion passed e. Comptroller Peri moves to propose language to amend Article IV Section 2 to read ⅔ instead of ⅘ i. Motion seconded ii. Motion objected 1. Comptroller Peri: A majority of people wanted to change this. We are not allowing the senate to make these changes. I feel it is unfair and we should allow the senate to be making these changes. 2. Senator Hoffman: As we spoke earlier, we shouldn’t make the threshold more difficult because the Constitution should be a living document. 3. Senator Verdone: Why should we get to change the Constitution now then make it harder later. Other Senators will have their perspectives and they should be able to change it as they want to. 4. Senator Chacon: It was already rejected last year, and it was rejected this senate and last year, it is over and we should keep it at ⅔. 5. Senator Tenebruso: We won’t get through this if we don’t amend things. We need to compromise and this is something where a majority of the people want 2/3s. 6. Chair Dzaveluri moves to close the speaking time a. Motion seconded b. Motion passed 7. Chair Chauhan: There is a difference between policy and constitution. It does not have everyday things that we use. It has what we are and what we
do. It is our structure. If our structure is subject to change at any given time, how do you expect our structure to remain stable and maintain their longevity? We are trying to make a structural change. This makes it easier to change policy. If you don't agree with your governing documents, what are you doing here? 8. Smook: We are not the US government. Bringing up the precedents in congress to 2.3 is not relevant to student government. The policy series is what we should be focusing on. The constitution is not what we will be focusing on all the time. 9. Senator Pierre: Documents can maintain their longevity without having change. Changes made previously were to overturn policy to make it easier to allocate money for students. Given that, those changes were better for the student body. Those changes were made by those people for their purpose. 10. Senator Urban: These documents talk about how we do things and why we do it. Concerning this not, we have 3 branches of government, This only weakens the government. 11. Chair Dzaveluri: We are talking about how US government has ⅔ and we are demanding ⅘. We are representing the student body. If 80% of us agree on the same thing, we are giving power to the minority. We want the few people who disagree to have power too. Their voices matter. That gives us the strongest constitution we can have at this table. Doesn’t this give us a stronger constitution? 12. Chief Justice Warner: From an exterior perspective, I believe that this section and the whole draft as a bridge and you are the pillars to hold it up. The more pillars you have, the more support there is to hold it up. 13. Chair Chauhan:GetInvolved HU is mentioned in this draft once. People IN this room are smart enough to make that change. Let's say we have a smaller senate, and there is a major decision being
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made. If we continue, just 6 people have to vote. We are going to have that move from 6 to 8. Why shouldn't that happen-The Senate has not been as full as it is in the future. It is fundamentally important for us to keep our foundation strong. 14. Comptroller Peri moves to reinstate the rules a. Motion seconded b. Motion passed iii. Motion passed Senator Urban: For Article II Section III, are meetings open to undergraduate students only? i. Chair Chauhan: Our meetings are open to everyone, but as for our constituents, only undergraduate students can serve. This is to put it in our constitution that we encourage undergraduate students to come here. It is not to restrict anyone. Comptroller Peri: When I was senator, I felt unprepared until the senate retreat. My only concern is that if a senator-elect is to come in every week, they will be unprepared and the only way to train them is to burden e-board and cabinet. Senator-elects should not be a thing or at the start of the spring semester when a training can happen. i. Chair Chauhan: It is not fair to the student body to not be served. I understand not being a senator is too much. It is not hard to be a senator. The club resources chair is gouging to help you and be a liaison in helping them adjust. Chair Verdone: Can you clarify? i. Comptroller Peri: All vacancies should be filled at the start of the spring semester to make all things easier. Senator Smook: What about identity-based clubs? i. You cannot deny membership in any clubs. According to policy, membership cannot be denied in any club, even identity. That can only apply to skill-based clubs like dance clubs. This is to ensure equity. Senator Pierre: What did you mean by section five? i. Chair Chauhan: The constitution prevails because it is the highest governing document. Senator Hamilton: What is the purpose of the policy series versus the constituon.
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Chair Chauhan: Constitution sets the structure of SGA and what we do, and the policy says how we do it. l. Senator Urban: In the section that reads student government financial matters, would this undermine the role of the comptroller? i. Chair Chauhan: The President ultimately comes to finances but I do it on the day to day. Whenever I can’t do it, she can do it. She deals with the bigger things. m. Senator Urban: Are we letting people not in SGA to interfere? i. Chair Chauhan: This is for external advocacy. We can’t have an SGA without student input. n. Senator Danek: President and VP have always written senatorial actions once or twice a year. Why make it harder? It might put more pressure on newcomers to make changes. Initiatives have been made in the past by e-board and so on. i. The VP cannot make legislative changes. The President has veto power which is a contradiction. The decisions came down to conflict of interest. It is unfair for them to also get the power to write legislation. There is always going to be someone else to do it on your behalf. o. Chair Ehrlich: The president may have some initiatives and ideas they want to work on. The president should still be allowed to make that change. p. Comptroller Peri moves for a 5-minute moderated caucus to debate if the President and Vice President should be allowed to make legislative changes. i. Comptroller Peri: I agree with both sides. The only Senatorial Actions are e-board changes in the past years, including the attendance policy or financial changes. The President and VP should be allowed to make legislative action, but their voices hold a lot of weight. Their names should be on the document. ii. Senator Danek: I understand why we don’t want them to author a Senatorial Action; however, as previous speakers said: if their ideas were the origins of the Senatorial Actions, their points should be signed by their name, so others don’t take credit. I think they should be able to co-author a Senatorial Action because they were elected and generally have the most experience. I think co-authoring is good.
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Chair Dzaveluri: The president can only write senatorial actions if he or she is co-authorized. This just means that it is taking the presence of vice president and president on senatorial action, because it also takes away their power. Whenever, president and vice president proposed their ideas, they were always passed. The overwhelming agreement often comes from them being in a higher position. It would give people more power to stop and think. iv. Senator Urban: I believe that you need to limit the executive. It is a collection of people with different perspectives. When making important decisions on these documents, we need to implement this to ensure the executive does not get out of hand. v. Senator Gillani: For the Senatorial Action, is it requiring a co-author? vi. Chair Chauhan: Anyone can make a senatorial action for themselves. With this constitution, that is not true. We are trying to make it less likely that a senatorial action will pass because it is proposed by an executive. vii. Comptroller Peri: I move to hold a strawpoll to propose language: “The president and vice president shall not make any legislative changes unless a member of the Senate is a co-author on the senatorial action.” 1. Motion seconded 2. Motion passed q. Senator Urban: Why are the committees in alphabetical order? It seems arbitrary. i. Chair Chauhan: It is just the precedent we have. r. Senator Pierre: Why did we change the minimum number of members for CR and programming? i. Chair Chauhan: We need to have at least 3 members so veto power is not used as much. For programming, that is their minimum and we want to keep the math as was before. s. Chair Ehrlich: Maybe assigning what days committees should meet isn't necessary. i. Chair Chauhan: It is to establish a foundation for senate so there is engagement throughout the week.
t. Senator Urban: Maybe we should remove GetInvolved HU. We are trying to make things timeless. We are not sure how long we will use it for. i. Chair Chauhan: Club resources need proof of attendance. We base our funding off of this. If getinvolved platform changes, we have to put faith in everyone’s common sense that the constitution will be changed them u. Senator Danek: The word decision is broad because committees are making decisions all the time. I feel like that can get broad. i. Chair Chauhan: Everything SGA does is subject to the senate. Even hosting an event is subject to approval. We pass minutes in every senate and cabinet. If there is an event that is being hosted that we don’t agree with, we can object to it. v. Chair Chauhan: I move to strike section 216.4 subsection E. i. Motion seconded ii. Motion passed w. Chair Chauhan: They don’t give a speech. x. Senator Pierre: Is there a reason why? i. Chair Chauhan: It was slowly removed. y. Senator Pierre: Why is the elections commissioner voted on by the senate? i. Chair Chauhan: For democratic reasons. Power for the decision should be gicen to all of us so we can choose who our leader is. z. Senator Pierre: Why is it important for the chair position to be filled by someone who has been in the senate for one year? i. Chair Chauhan: Being a chair requires understanding how to do things in SGA. Chairs also have to take part in senate retreat. How do you be a chair if you never attended a senate retreat. aa. Senator Chacon: Most senators that are running for chairs have had leadership positions before. Why are we limiting people? They talk to adminsirtation too and talk to students. i. Chair Chauhan: Being a club leader and being an SGA chair is different. Booking a room is an example. Being in SGA also entails being aware of the constitution and policy series of SGA. bb. Comptroller Peri moves for a 5-minute moderated caucus on section 216.7
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Motion seconded Motion passed Senator Urban: I understand both perspectives. I come from appropriations. I can talk from experience. If you have a bad comptroller or chair, you are screwed. I also understand that we should allow anyone to run for positions. We have had people who have gotten positions very early on. I think logistics committees should have limits, but advocacy committees could have some leeway at their being anyone. Comptroller Peri: My main point is that we don’t know who a person is til they are in the Senate. For the new Senators who were elected, they got a seat at the table during special elections and nominations. Not being allowed to run is unfair. Eboard is different, that’s why 1 year is different and elevating chairs to E-Boards is discouraging. We want the Senate to pick their cabinet and not limit them about who can run. Also, this provision only applies to turnover elections - because it has so many nuances it doesn’t fit in the Constitution. People can have skills that are transferable from other roles. You also, as a new Chair, have meetings with Sev, the President, VP, and others to learn the role. We have also had so many successful Chairs who weren’t in the Senate. Chauhan: This does not mean in the senate. They can be an associate or justice. They just have to be in SGA. We don't know them because we have never met them. They can also end up being a very terrible chair. This is going to be higher than if they were a good chair. This is only applicable for turnover elections, so that the person should know SGA. If special elections occur, those there would understand because they know how things work. Senator Danek moves to extend the moderated caucus by 10-minutes 1. Motion seconded 2. Motion passed a. Chair Chauhan: Someone who has never been part of SGA is your club resources chair. How will they figure that out with one or two transition meetings? Summer does not mean someone is always available. I had
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lots of issues over the summer. There are still things that I don't know how to handle. That experience is what helped me. If that experience is removed, we are risking it. Senator Arscott: It is preferred for chairs to have experience. I feel like if we had some statement that training is required. Senator Gillani: I think people should have a certain level of experience and amend language. Senator Pierre: 8 of the 91st senate positions were completely unopposed. We are preventing people and blocking them as they enter the door. For the 89th senate I applied to be an associate. When I learnt that the equity chair was opposed, I decided to run. That just meant that people knew who I was even if I didn’t win. If there is nobody running, we are screwing ourselves from better people. We never know who the next chair will be. I did not win when I ran. It is not for sure that they will win. Senator Israel Jr.: I think that if we’re allowed to vote on who is allowed to be chair, why can’t we run. It doesn’t make sense they can’t even try to run. Senator Chacon: The previous speakers spoke really well about this. The situation you introduced uses a lot of “what ifs”. That is IF they even get voted in. CR and Approps are positions that are desired. A lot of Senators understand how difficult the two roles are and they see what those are and don’t want to start with them. Why should we start an unnecessary restriction? Chair Ehrlich: We do not know who is going to run or win. My point is, we don’t know if someone is going to be good or bad. But that doesn’t mean that if someone is a senator or justice, they are going to be a good chair. People have positions in different organizations. Chair Dzaveluri: We’ve had bad experiences with some chairs who were not in SGA and they got overwhelmed. There should be a limitation on logistics committees, not advocacy committees. A club treasurer is NOT the same as our appropriations chair. It takes lots of experience to be in those roles. Finally, I agree with the point that we are taking away the opportunity.
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Chair Vira moves to extend the speaking time by 2 minutes 1. Motion seconded 2. Motion passed xv. Chair Dzaveluri: I think we shouldn’t say we’re cutting them off. They have opportunities to go to meetings, attend committees, and I don’t think it cuts them off because they can go if they want to. Sure, you can run for an advocacy chair, but for logistics, the chairs need a lot more training for CR and Appropriations. You have to experience a budget weekend to host a budget weekend. cc. Senator Hoffman: if they are not qualified, they won't be voted in. It puts pressure on someone who wants the position to really put in the work. dd. Senator: Saint Fleur: People who get into these roles, should speak up and show others what they could do. ee. Senator Urban: Compromise only Appropriations and CR have this rule applied to them. ff. Senator Chacon moves to strike section 216.7 section B. i. Motions seconded ii. Motion passed gg. Senator Chacon: Everything has been said already. I don't know why we are still disagreeing on this. They will always be someone running against Appropriation or Club Resources Chair. Even if someone wins, what’s the likelihood they even win. hh. Senator Danek: I have been in 4 senates. The biggest issues with chairs have been issues with people who have been in SGA for previous years. This has never happened and I don’t think it will because people generally know what and who they are voting for. I think we should leave it to the democratic will of the senate. ii. Chair Vira: I still think it’s very important that chairs have served in SGA for one year. Being a chair now and working with administrators, is a lot. Learning everything is important. How can you create a presentation without even being a chair? jj. Chair Chauhan: I want to discuss the point of logistics chairs. The Communications chair isn’t simply making flyers. It’s representing SGA. How can you represent SGA when you don’t know what it is? We can not let that happen. How is our spokesperson going to be someone who's never been in SGA? How can they host some of the largest events without knowing SGA?
kk. Senator Painuli: It is unfair to predetermine people's capabilities just because they are new. Why are we just assuming this is about e-board positions? Many people are capable. We need to have faith in our own election process. Senators can make decisions about how fit for the positions. There is a fine line between letting someone run and letting someone win. ll. Senator Valenzuela: Deeming someone unworthy just because they are new is unfair. I am new, people who come to SGA want to try and want positions. They still have to get voted in and all our votes matter. mm. Senator Pierre: If I ran for 6 positions and I lost each time, there is no guarantee that a new senator is going to win. nn. Senator Saint Fleur: Those people can learn something from us and they can get a message from this. oo. Senator Pawar: If someone who is new to SGA is elected they have a 50-50 chance. A chair is such an important position, there shouldn't be a 50% chance that they would fail just because they don't know how to run their positions. Past chairs may have different positions now and may not have all the time to answer all the questions of the new chair. pp. Senator Hamilton: Even if somebody is part of a new club, and they dont have time to allocate 30 minutes to an associate position, they can’t dedicate time to being a chair. qq. Chair Dzaveluri: I think we should consider changing the section for logistics and not advocacy. Please think of that idea. rr. Senator Blain: I don't think you can bank on ifs and buts. Some positions require a level of trust. Barring senators from positions is not deeming the unworthy, but you need someone trustworthy and knows the position. ss. Senator Urban moves to amend language for 216.7 B: to be eligible to run for appropriations and/or club resources. i. Senator Urban: I understand this purpose, but club resources and appropriations are too logistical. No matter what, people will be upset. If people are the least unhappy, we win. ii. Comptroller Peri: All of our chairs are equal. We cannot be putting two chairs on a pedestal. I know appropriations and CR are difficult, but we cannot say they are harder than other chairs. We cannot even do it for logistics and
advocacy. We need to decide if we are doing this for every chair or not a single chair. iii. Senator Smook: I agree that we should value all committees the same and we shouldn’t put anyone on a pedestal. Singling them out and making them feel like they need to be in SGA before or not. iv. Senator Pierre: When there was a motion to strike all of it, it was denied. It is about acknowledging that there are more components to each position. Either way we are still cutting it off for new members. This is the only way I can see myself going through with this. v. Senator Verdone: We are ignoring programming. We should just put things into place without ignoring it. vi. Senator Soares: As someone new here, I did not know anything. I was nominated for the programming chair, but as I was speaking to Jacob, I realized it was a lot of work. It is a big time commitment, I would rather be a good senator than a bad chair. vii. Chair Dzaveluri moves for a strawpoll “To be eligible to run for a Logistics chair during turnover elections” 1. Motion seconded 2. Motion Passed viii. Chair Vira moves to hold a strawpoll to keep the original statement: 1. Motion seconded 2. Motion passed tt. Chair Dzaveluri moves to propose language to read be: “To be eligible to run for a Logistics chair during turnover elections” i. Motions seconded ii. Motion objected iii. Chair Dzaveluri: I have nothing new to add, but logistics chairs need experience. Programming, CR, Appropriations need experience to host good events. iv. Senator Urban: These logistics committees require more resources and time, and that's why advocacy committees get 30 minutes and logistics get more. v. Chair Chauhan: As someone who’s been an advocacy and logistics chair, I feel like I’m qualified to speak on this. Being a Wellness chair was much easier for me than CR. Deeming people “unworthy” is not what we are trying to
do. We are here to amend the constitution and compromise. We are not passing it as it was. vi. Senator Chacon: No matter what, you are saying they are unworthy. If the president of a frat, who held Greek Week, wanted to be programming chair. They can learn the position. It takes guts for a Senator to run after an election bash. When I was here, I was intimidated by the administrators. It’s so difficult to run, so why make it harder and restrict them? vii. Comptroller Peri: If you are limiting people from running, you are taking power out of your hands. This is illegal. You can’t put chairs on a pedestal. All other chairs are important. If you are electing them, it’s your fault. viii. Chair Chauhan: I ran against five people my first semester as a Freshman. I understand the points, but the point is that these people don’t understand SGA. I understand Advocacy committees are just as difficult, but the logistics are specifically logistical for a reason. It’s difficult to do these jobs. ix. Senator Israel Jr.: If you were able to, so can others. x. Senator Hoffman: Don’t we trust the senate to vote for someone qualified. It makes the elections more competitive and the chair better. Advocacy chairs are just as important, so putting one over the other is not the move. xi. Senator Pierre: The special elections should not be considered. uu. Senator Pierre moves for a proposed language change: If there is no available candidates and or if a candidate is running unopposed, nominations will be open to all new senators 1. Motion seconded 2. Motion passed vv. Chair Chauhan moves to strike section 303 subsection A clause f. 1. Motion seconded 2. Motion passed ww. Secretary Thani moves to strike chair reports 1. Motion seconded 2. Motion passed xx. Secretary Thani moves to strike snap cup 1. Motion seconded 2. Motion passed
yy. Senator Pierre: Why did we remove the entire section of External Advocacy Boards? It removes an entire step-by-step portion of how to create, run, and remove one. In turn, this also erases the history of BLAC, an external advocacy committee created by the E.A.B. i. Chair Chauhan: We have a plan to move an external branch to our policy series. It is not part of our foundation, it is additional. We have not used an external advocacy branch for a while. There is already a clause that establishes the power. There will be an aversion to it in the policy series as well. zz. Senator Arscott: Who is appointed to Club Resources i. Chair Chauhan: It is mandating a review. aaa. Senator Hoffman: Is there section 4. Are we reviewing it? i. Chair Chauhan: This is what we passed in the summer senate. bbb. Senator Pierre: Does abstaining count as a NAY vote? i. Chair Chauhan: It is just removing yourself from the vote. ccc. Senator Urban: Is this something OSLE already does? i. Chair Chauhan: Yes this is just saying the advisor has to be impartial. ddd. Senator Pierre: Are J-Panel aware of these changes? i. Chair Chauhan: Yes, The Chief Justice was made aware and was at every meeting. d. Elections Commission Report 3. Approval of the Minutes a. Chair Dzaveluri moves to pass the Senate minutes from 7/12 i. Motion Seconded ii. Motion Passed b. Chair Noel moves to pass the Cabinet minutes from 9/2 i. Motion Seconded ii. Motion Passed
4. E-board Reports a. President i. Welcome Back! ii. Meeting with Jess 1. Bits & Bytes iii. Welcome Week Programming was a success! iv. Non operational next week b. Vice President
i. Senate Expectations ii. GroupMe: JOIN!!! iii. Senate Retreat Reminder!! iv. 91st Senate Calendar!!! c. Comptroller i. Working with OSLE & Club Advisors d. Secretary SGA Fall ‘26 Calendar i. ii. Office hours - 1 for senators, 2 for cabinet members iii. We have a new logo! iv. Merch for the new semester has arrived - stay tuned! v. Let me know if you leave the room so I can keep quorum vi. Let me know if you have a name not on your current placard that you’d wanna replace it with after senate TODAY vii. Please let me know if I pronounce your name wrong or if I type something incorrectly in the minutes! viii. Group pic 5. Committee Chair Reports a. Appropriations i. Minutes Fall 2026 Semesterly Budget Appeal Submissions ii. iii. Treasurer Training starts next week! 1. Student Center East Plaza Room: Tuesday, September 8th - 11:30 AM 2. Student Center East Plaza Room: Wednesday, September 9th 1:00 PM 3. Student Center Greenhouse: Thursday, September 10th - 11:30 AM b. Club Resources i. No Minutes ii. Elections underway iii. Shared storage access iv. Constitutional reviews c. Communications
i. d. e. Programming Programming Minutes 9/1/26 - Build A Friend theme confirmed for Monday Nov 9th MPR 5:30pm-7:30pm / Theme for BAF selected (Prehistoric Dinosaurs!!!) - Fall Fest Tabling October 17th / Duck Fishing Carnival Game - Foundations being laid for a potential Casino Night will give more updates as planning progresses! f. Academic Affairs AA minutes 09/03/2026 i.
ii.
Events 1. Tabling for the 25th Anniversary of 9/11 a. 10-3 in Student Center b.
SGA 25th Anniversary of 9/11 Tabling Sheet
2. Upcomming a. Working to schedule a meeting with the Gen Ed Task Force. b. Meeting with Provost 25th c. Reaching out to CUA and the Registrar’s Office to set up meetings. g. Equity & Inclusion i. Minutes ii. EAW Meeting w/ Lexis 1. Eats Around the World (EAW) starts this month September 17th a. Every Thursday bi weekly in Student Center 5pm -8pm b. Sign Up Sheet - Due Tuesday, September 8th iii. National Inclusion Week (September 14th -September 20th) SGA x IEI 1. Gender Inclusive Bathroom Flyer in the making 2. NIW: Kickoff Event: Identity Mirror Tabling Sign Up Sheet a. Monday, September 14th at 12pm -4pm in Atrium 3. NIW: “The Missing Piece” Puzzle Wall Sign Up Sheet 4. NIW:Rep Your Flag Day Tabling Sign Up Sheet a. Friday, September 18th at 12pm -3pm in Pride Park b. Add songs to spotify playlist 5. NIW:Hispanic Heritage Month Film Screening/ Movies in Pride Park – Friday, 9/18 at dusk 7pm a. The movie is Encanto! h. Facilities & Operations -
Minutes 09/03/2026: Facilities and Operations Committee minutes 09/03/2026 - Google Docs
I.
Eats around the world -Facilities will be in attendance with Campus Nutritionist Simone to advertise how dietary restrictions/concerns can be reported
ii. National Inclusion Week September 14th-20th -committee will be hanging posters to advertise where gender inclusive bathrooms are located iii. Keep Hofstra Beautiful res life campaign
-meeting with John Palasits of Res Life soon, discussion of possible campaign to encourage cleanliness in the residence halls, reach out if you have any thoughts or suggestions Iv. upcoming meetings: - Meeting with sev on september 15th to discuss committee updates and equity collab for eats around the the world i. Wellness & Campus Safety Wellness minutes 09/03 i. ii.
Events 1. Hope Fest a. Sept 10th i.
iii.
iv.
Tabling for Hope Fest
2. Tabling with One Love ambassador a. Sept 28th- common hour Working with Plan Van on dates and location 1. Pride Park a. Sept 9,16,23,30. Shout out to my ONE LOVE AMBASSADOR
6. Approval of Committee Minutes a. Comptroller Peri moves to pass the committee minutes from 9/3 i. Motion seconded ii. Motion passed 7. Approval of Allocations a. Chair Chauhan moves to amend the allocations for SASA to $6,270.54 i. Motion seconded ii. Motion passed a. Senator Pawar moves to pass the Fall 2026 Budget Appeals i. Motion seconded ii. Motion passed 8. For the Good of the Order a. Anything SGA related! i. Committee of Detail meeting coming up - please attend! ii. National Inclusion Week begins on September 18th. Please be there and sign up for tabling! iii. Fill out the Tune Tuesday form in the GroupMe! 9. Announcements
a. Anything non-SGA related! 10. Snap Cup a. Decorum suspended 11. Adjournment a. Senator Pierre moves to adjourn the gallery i. Motion seconded ii. Motion passed b. Senator Blain moves to adjourn this meeting i. Motion seconded ii. Motion passed 1. Meeting adjourned at 10:49 EST
Cabinet Agenda PPAW Conference Room September 2, 2026 6:15pm Quorum: Present: President M. Ahmad, Vice President J. Iacobovici, Comptroller P. Peri, Secretary K. Thani, Chair J. Vira, Chair F. Bokhari, Chair A. Chauhan, Chair J. Ehrlich, Chair R. Noel, Chair N. Dzaveluri, Chair S. Ruffo Absent: Chair A. Mansour Agenda: I. Meeting called to order: 6:01 II. Icebreaker: Empire III. Collaborative Business: A. Cabinet Expectations 1. Email Sev to set up your 1:1s a. President Ahmad: These are to be monthly. Sev is a really good point to go to if you need someone. 2. Responding to emails within 48 hours a. President Ahmad: I know stuff happens and you get busy, you just have to reply and let someone know it is being worked on. Please cc Jacob and I about important meetings with administration, and other important topics. If you are ever unsure if you should cc us, you should. We are a team. 3. 2:1s? a. President Ahmad: I know we met already but expect another meeting with Jacob and I. We are here to make sure you guys are all set. B. Goal setting 1. This semester’s goals a. President Ahmad: We will revisit these at the end of the semester to see if you achieved your goal and if you haven’t, we will see what different steps we can take to achieve them.
C. All things financial a. Comptroller Peri: We are adding cabinet budgets.We have allocated a good portion of our internal budget. We have a little bit of money left. Leadership (E-board) and all chairs were allocated money. Some committees were given food vouchers. Everyone was given what they asked for. In the future, don’t be afraid by limiting your budgets. Make sure to get your purchase requests sooner than later. Keep me in the loop about things. It makes my job harder if I don’t know about requests beforehand. b. Chair Chauhan: We are funding Meta glasses? c. Comptroller Peri: It is for the Communications committee, for the purpose of recording. d. President Ahmad: We will table this purchase and look into it. e. Comptroller Peri: If you need something streamlined, come to me as soon as possible. On Saturday, I had to purchase gift cards for bingo for books and I should be reimbursed by next week now that the paperwork is underway. Go to Kripa for catering requests. It confuses Sev when you submit it through purchase requests. D. Commuter Student Association & Commuter Parking a. Comptroller Peri: Commuter students association is too under supported. I want to get them some more money. Right now their budget is only for legos. How can SGA help the Commuter Students Association? b. Chair Ehrlich: We want to do more outreach. A lot of people don’t know it exists. Everyone needs community service hours. We host so many of these events that people can attend and get those hours. We are a very welcoming group. It is open to the entire Hofstra community and should be known to everyone. It is there as a resource for anyone. c. Chair Vira: We want to make sure there is outreach with commuter events like Shake a Rake. You don’t need to be a commuter. Maybe SGA can send groups to these events. Commuter students are having issues with the parking situation, especially with Breslin parking lot being closed off to some students. d. President Ahmad: Can you guys give us some points for us to use to explain why this new parking situation isn’t working?
e. Chair Noel: I often have to make my own parking spot after commuting for so long to school. I have to park far from classes. Some of us bring lunch and leave it in our car, we prefer the parking by the student center. f. Chair Vira: I used to park near breslin hall and now it is only faculty parking. g. Chair Bokhari: It is open. The residential side is still far. I would prefer more parking lots. h. President Ahmad: I have been talking to administration and this is a soft launch of the college town look, as it creates more greenways. Faculty tends to be segregated to certain areas too, and they are also complaining. Administration said change is hard to acclimatize. I hear you all but I don’t think it’s enough to convince them why students need parking. They will see what lots are being used by certain populations and then turn those into a student lot. i. Chair Ehrlich: A lot of people have mentioned that they would like to see a parking garage. This was touched upon previously by President Poser. j. President Ahmad: Parking lot is less desired. It would affect property values. They were considering the Nassau coliseum parking lot to be parking for the school and have students take the shuttle. Lot of Hofstra administration k. Chair Vira: A lot of incoming students are commuters, and I don’t think they realized that. l. President Ahmad: It is really frustrating. They did a bad job at advertising the parking. Keep an ear out. We really need to build a case for this, because they are really headstrong. E. Make hofstra fun again a. Chair Dzaveluri moves for a closed session. i. Motion seconded ii. Motion passed b. Chair Dzaveluri moves to end the closed session. i. Motion seconded ii. Motion passed F. Constitutional Convention 1. 1st Draft
2. Chair Ehrlich: It is a fair idea to open the associate position. 3. Chair Vira: Is administration on board with the changes? a. Chair Chauhan: I have shared it with Sev, and will hear back soon. 4. President Ahmad: What is the reasoning behind making it that the President cannot write senatorial actions? a. Chair Chauhan: It is because you have veto power and if you present something in senate, people will not want to vote against it. b. Chair Dzaveluri: We could just say that Maisa cannot co-sign. Is it just because Maisa’s presence could have influence over senate? c. Chair Chauhan: The president is also not supposed to talk in senate. It also allows senators to use critical thinking more. d. President Ahmad: I am not opposed, I was just wondering what the reasoning was. e. Chair Ehrlich: Everyone has ideas. The president should be allowed to make a senatorial action. 5. Vice President Iacobovici: As per the statement that candidates need to be “To be eligible to run during turnover elections, the candidate must have served in the Student Government Association during a prior Senate. This requirement shall not apply to special elections.” My main concern is we have a small senate in the future. We have to have the possibility of associates. It limits people. a) Comptroller Peri: A majority of positions were uncontested this year. It is important to have experience for e-board positions, but it’s not 100% necessary for chair positions. b) President Ahmad: We can’t guess what people are going to be like before they are in SGA. c) Chair Dzaveluri: We have good chairs and bad chairs. d) Chair Vira: It is about being qualified before being a chair. We have to go to a senate retreat and learn everything. They have not served in a student body. e) Chair Ehrlich: I think people f) Secretary Thani: When we joined SGA, none of us knew the time commitment or what exactly it entails. No one knew.
g) Comptroller Peri :It is not a necessary provision. This doesn’t seem necessary to me. It just limits you. h) Chair Chauhan: I personally think we can't have longevity. We can’t let someone serve who has never even sat in a committee. It’s a gamble. Someone who has never read our constitution, how can they do anything else? Procedures are different. i) Chair Bokhari: I think the majority of people need to know what to do. Same thing with e-board. It is different from being in SGA. j) Chair Dzaveluri: This is one of the best cabinets because we have all known each other. We can freely collaborate with someone. I don;t think past cabinets could do that. I think knowing senate is important and you cannot have these without k) Chair Noel: A lot of people who ran for senate last year, we didn’t vote for them anyway. l) Comptroller Peri: To Becky’s point, if someone isn’t voted in, it’s because they’re not qualified. It’s up to the senate to decide who gets to be chair. We should not be limiting the options for the senate to choose from. m) Vice President Iacobovici: Roberts rules are not senate only. n) Chair Vira: What about the constitution Lily’s committee reviewed? a. Chair Chauhan: We are reviewing this one and voting on the 1st draft, not the actual final constitution. 6. Chair Dzaveluri moves to pass the first draft of the Constitution. i. Motion seconded ii. Motion passed 7. Chair Vira seconds the motion! 8. Motion passes. G. Town Hall a. President Ahmad: It is an open forum to questions. We want to hear your thoughts. It would be at the end of September and there would be a table of us Cabinet members. H. New Club Prospective members
1. DSA 2. MSA a. Chair Chauhan: We need to do something about this. Democratic socialists club coming. Let me know if anyone is interested. IV.
Updates A. President 1. Faculty Negotiations B. Vice President 1.
Senate Agenda 9/3/26
2. Senate Retreat!! a) Presentations!!!’ 3. Senate Calendar 4. Senate Guests!! C. Comptroller 1. Reached out to Hofstra Concerts about Music Fest 2. Setting up monthly meeting with all club advisors 3. Internal Budget Request Form - text me when you submit 4. Get Purchase Requests in as soon as you can! 5. Let me know if you need anything from me! D. Secretary 1. Merch has arrived! 2. New SGA logo - Please change all your email signatures to include the new long logo. Check and make sure all the details are correct and standardized. Update all other documents related to your position with the new logo. 3. Room Reservation / GIHU Form - require graphic to upload 4. Catering Request Form - give enough notice 5. Atrium table requests - email me 6. Remember to email me every time you submit any of the forms! 7. Roster and Attendance - Chairs are responsible for updating committee attendance. 8. CC me, Maisa and Jacob on committee minutes! 9. Fall '26 Calendar - If you notice any of your events missing, please let me know.
10. Conference room closet has been organized - Please take things carefully and return them as they were after events. If you are unsure that something is in the closet, let me know so I can help you find it and everything remains organized. E. Academic Affairs 1.
AA minutes 09/03/2026
2. Events a) Tabling for the 25th Anniversary of 9/11 (1) 10-3 in Student Center 3. Upcomming a) Working to schedule a meeting with the Gen Ed Task Force. b) Meeting with Provost 25th c) Reaching out to CUA and the Registrar’s Office to set up meetings. F. Appropriations 1. Appropriations minutes 9/1/26 2. Treasurer training next week! 3. Working on budget booklets and funding FAQs G. Club Resources 1. Elections Commission Report a) Can someone help me with creating a zoom link please? 2. Rental Room 3. Club Constitutions timeline under works, four clubs coming for approval next committee 4. Two clubs coming to Senate for SGA Check-In 5. New Club Application a) Met with three prospective clubs and helped them with the application process 6. Internal Club Issues a) Met and addressed concerns 7. Tabling for New Club Application a) Please sign up now H. Communications 1. I. Equity and Inclusion 1. National Inclusion Week (September 14th -September 20th)
a) NIW:Rep Your Flag Day Tabling Sign Up Sheet (1) Friday, September 18th at 12pm -3pm in Pride Park (2) Add songs to spotify playlist b) NIW: Kickoff Event: Identity Mirror Tabling Sign Up Sheet (1) Monday, September 14th at 12pm -3pm in Atrium c) NIW: “The Missing Piece” Puzzle Wall Sign Up Sheet d) NIW:Hispanic Heritage Month Film Screening/ Movies in Pride Park – Friday, 9/18 at dusk 7pm (1) The movie is Encanto! 2. Eats Around the World (EAW) starts this month September 17th a) Every Thursday bi weekly in Student Center 5pm -8pm b) Sign Up Sheet - Due Tuesday, September 8th J. Facilities and Operations 1. Facilities and Operations Committee minutes 09/03/2026 - Google Docs 2. Campus wide events a) Eats around the world: -facilities is planning to collaborate with the Equity and Inclusion committee for eats around the world, help advertise eats around the world through online graphics -also inform students about how they can contact campus dietician, campus dining services to talk about a dining accomodation/request for a particular food item on campus B) National Inclusion Week -another collab with equity on advertising and hanging posters around campus to help point out where gender neutral bathrooms are throughout campus (Facilities will help hang posters) 3. Upcoming meetings a) Meeting with sev on september 15th to discuss committee updates and Equity collab for Eats Around the World b) Meeting with John Palasits from the Office of Residence Life to discuss updates with res life and start working on campaign to help encourage cleanliness in students dorms 4. Environmental/campus sustainability a) Mentioned to me by Jess Eads about a possible Hydroponic farm where students can purchase freshly grown produce,
b) Student had mentioned to me that they would like to see a compost bin on campus to put food scraps in (around bits n bytes) K. Programming 1.
Programming Minutes 9/1/26
a. Build A friend Nov 19th 5:30-7:30 MPR b. Fall Fest Tabling October 17th L. Wellness and Campus Safety 1.
Wellness minutes 09/03
2. Events a) Hope Fest (1) Sept 10th (a)
V. VI. VII.
VIII.
Tabling for Hope Fest
b) Tabling with One Love ambassador (1) Sept 28th- common hour c) We Fight Back d) Mind in Motion e) Finals Frenzy f) Tabling with Plan Van 3. One Love Ambassador For the Good of the Order A. Secretary Thani: Committee Locations and times were shared Announcements A. Chair Vira moves to adjourn the meeting. A. Motion Seconded B. Motion Passes Meeting adjourned: 7:59
Respectfully submitted, President Maisa Ahmad