Jan. 12

Profile of issues: 

Chatham Student Government (CSG) members discussed potential guest speakers. Class 2026 President Morgan Rapsky suggested inviting a representative for the Registrar’s Office to discuss issues about certain classes that the Academic Advocacy Committee brings forward. Executive President Abdul Malik ‘23 suggested the Director of Athletics to discuss the queer workout area that the Athletic Engagement Committee is working on with Queer Student Alliance (QSA) and the Athletic and Fitness Center. 

Vice President of Communications Elizabeth Ruszkoski ‘23 suggested inviting Chief Donna Grossi to discuss safety concerns about campus and work with the Safety Committee to solve them. Finally, Class 2025 Vice President Nathan Tebay suggested inviting a Parkhurst representative to discuss other ways food can improve, and the Food Committee can assist. 

Open forum:

Ruszkoski discussed the main issues that students brought to their attention in the fall town hall. 

First, there were complaints about Chatham Student Government’s lack of diversity because the student leaders of marginalized groups felt unrepresented. Ruszkoski suggested inviting student organizations to increase representation. Class 2025 Treasurer and Parlimentarion Aidan Bobik ’25 said he would make an amendment to improve diversity in CSG by guaranteeing a spot for student leaders of marginalized organizations on the DEI committee. 

Second, there were complaints about feeling uninformed about the actions that CSG does. Ruszkoski suggested creating a newsletter to inform students about the committees and their ongoing projects and hours to discuss issues with them. 

Finally, Bobik motioned to create an ad-hoc committee to evaluate the governmental structures and procedures regarding the police within CSG. 

Appointments and resignations:

Class 2023 President Zoe Wise resigned, and Kathryn Crouch was appointed as the new Class 2023 president. 

Jan. 19

New business:

CSG members agreed to contact the Falk Student Council to improve their connection with them and have more representation in student government. 

Class reports: 

Class 2023: Crouch said a video and posts are on Instagram to inform more students about the class project, an essential needs corner in the Health Services lounge below Woodland Hall. 

Class 2026: Rapsky provided the dates for the five events to obtain a sustainability cup: Jan. 18, Jan. 23 and Jan. 25. The final dates will be based on which event was the most popular to students. 

Open forum:

Rapsky said that CSG office hours need better promotion of a specific set of hours due to the lack of issues brought to their attention. However, Ruszoski suggested that may not be a good idea because some officers do not attend their required office hours, and it would diminish CSG’s credibility if they promised students can talk to a CSG representative, and no one would be present. Class 2025 Representative Ana Betar suggested that they can make a distinctive area at the Carriage House for students to know who they are. Ruszoski suggested a sign-in sheet that members will take to document the time they come in and leave their office hours. 

Emi Perdan ’23 discussed a student’s concerns about accessibility at the Shadyside Campus. To know which areas need improvement, members motioned for the Safety Committee and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee create a document listing the areas that violate ADA guidelines.

Class 2024 Vice President Ashanti Lopez ‘24 asked members about updates concerning last semester’s concerns about the Café Rachel worker overcharging students of color, a professor’s critical grading of assignments from African American students, and sustainability majors transferring from Chatham due to the Integrated Degree Program’s flaws. “I feel like we keep repeating the same issues because they are forgotten about and people have not been responding to them,” said Lopez. Class 2026 Representative Jada Jenkins shared similar frustrations. “I am tired of the people in power not taking immediate initiative,” she said. Betar suggested that the DEI Committee re-prioritize the Café Rachel issue, and collaborate with the Academic Advocacy Committee to confront the professor issue. 

Appointments and resignations: 

Ashby Kirkpatrick was appointed as the class 2024 treasurer.

Martha Deng was appointed as the class 2026 treasurer. 

Nominations: 

Bobik was nominated as the chair of the Evaluation Committee and accepted the nomination.

Jan. 26

The meeting was adjourned because members cannot vote or motion without a full forum. So, CSG members organized into groups to discuss their class projects or their committees.

Class reports: 

Class 2026: Rapsky stated that her class has distributed 108 Reusable cups. Also, she said the next two events may be future Dean’s Hours events and further details will be discussed with Nick Corbett, the Parkhurst general manager. 

Committee reports:

Academic Advocacy Committee: Rapsky discussed that members worked with DEI to finish a discrimination reporting form and honor code book. The book will include scenarios about students’ rights and more comprehensible terminology to raise awareness about knowing which situations are violations. The discrimination reporting form will simplify the process of a formal reporting form. The beginning of the form will have questions pertaining to the context of the event, and the end of the form will have questions about whether the student would like to be anonymous or other actions that can take place. Rapsky said that they have a tentative meeting with Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students, Chris Purcell, to discuss having these forms on the MyChatham app.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee: Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Melissa Redding ’23 discussed her meeting with the Muslim Student Association about the lack of accommodations for halal food at Anderson Dining Hall. Members were concerned that Anderson does not have the proper certification to prepare halal food. They expressed they need separate pans, pots, silverware and plates to prevent contamination. Solutions they raised were pre-packaged food to prevent cross-contamination, labels for food to see whether it is halal, and consistent times on the menu to know when halal food is available. 

Food Committee: Class 2026 Representative Madison Stokes discussed her meeting with Corbett about having shallow salad bowls and dipping cups, and a salad-grain bowl pop-up event for February. However, Corbett indicated that they won’t order the products if there is not an expressed need from the student body.  

Evaluation Committee: Bobik said that the committee’s purpose is examining the CSG’s procedures, identify issues and fix them for improved meetings in CSG and the student body.