Oct. 12

• New business:

• Submitted items for legislative action:

• • A Measure to Increase CSG Visibility: Class of 2027 Vice President Olivia Harris, Class of 2027 Representative Connor Domke, Class of 2026 President Morgan Rapsky, Class 2027 Representative Caroline Northridge and Class of 2027 President Dominic Randall proposed a measure to increase visibility. They proposed to achieve this by posting an announcement of the legislature passed on social media within the week that it has been passed, having the executive vice president of communications update the existing legislation tab of the Chatham Student Government (CSG) website within a week of the passing of any new legislation and holding CSG Town Hall Meetings at least once a term that must be advertised on social media.  

• • A Measure to Increase the Transparency of Chatham Student Government: This measure was created by Rapsky, Class of 2026 Treasurer Christopher Szarka, Vice President of Communications Jada Jenkins ’26 and Vice President of Finances Gabrielle Slovikosky ’26. It is meant to do the following: the vice president of finances will add approved budget proposals on the CSG website to make financial decisions accessible to the public. The vice president of communications will then add the Student Organization Forum (SOF) and Communication and Engagement Committee (CEC) Methods of Order to increase awareness of the purpose of these two groups to the public. The vice president of communications will send the Executive Board meeting minutes 24 hours before the next scheduled senate meeting for both the Senate and Executive Board to receive the information in a timely manner. Each committee must advertise membership to the student body with posters, tabling or emails to increase the voices of non-elected members and accountability of the elected members in the committees. 

• • • • • Both legislative measures were postponed and approved until the next senate meeting to review terminology. 

• Executive Board reports: 

• • Executive Vice President Aidan Bobik ’25 added a “Legislation” section on the CSG website that differentiates the types of legislative items such as proclamations, bills, special legislation, resolutions, measures and budgets.
  • Jenkins added Executive Board office hours, committee meeting times and class meeting times to the CSG website. 

• Committee reports:

• • Academic Advocacy Committee: Domke described his meeting with Chief Academic Advisor Dr. Lisa Lambert on Friday Oct. 6, regarding two issues: seeing class syllabi early and payment of third-party services:
    • Syllabi: A service called “Simple Syllabi” will be implemented into Brightspace by the spring term. It will keep all syllabi from each class in one area, and students can view it at any time. 
    • Third-Party Services: This concern refers to students paying for third-party services outside Brightspace for their classes. Chatham University is communicating with faculty to see the best methods to utilize Brightspace and third-party services without costing students money. Additionally, Brightspace will be assessed to see if it is an appropriate educational platform, which may result in it being switched to another educational platform. 

• Open forum:

• • QR code: Jenkins read two concerns from students. The QR code maintains anonymity for students. 
    • Adding and replenishing hand sanitizer stations: A student wanted to know if more hand sanitizer stations can be added to Anderson Dining Hall and if the current ones can be replenished consistently for sanitation purposes. Randall and Domke motioned for this issue to be referred to the Safety Committee. 
    • Extension of Parkhurst catering services: A student wanted to have catering options outside of Parkhurst Dining Services. Domke and Rapsky motioned for this concern to be referred to the Food Committee. 
  • Wellness classes: Rapsky asked if a self-defense class can be an option as a wellness course. She said a class can provide useful skills that students can apply if they encounter a dangerous situation. Rapsky and Randall motioned for this idea to be referred to the Safety Committee and Academic Advocacy Committee (AAC). 
  • Parking issue reports: Slovikosky raised the concern that some parking lines need to be repainted, specifically near Beatty House and Chapel Hill. Members motioned for the issue to be referred to the Safety Committee. 
  • Israel-Gaza conflict address: Executive President Jackson Adkins ‘25 surveyed CSG members on their opinions about whether to address the Israel-Gaza conflict. Once they agreed to write a statement, CSG members discussed what the message might say and on what platform to send it out to students. Members motioned to refer the issue to the Diversity and Inclusion Committee to write the first draft. 
• Appointments and resignations: 
  • Nathan Tebay resigned as the class of 2024 vice president. 

• New business:

• Submitted items for legislative action:

• • Purple Friday Resolution: Adkins and Class 2025 Representative Atticus Danielson proposed this resolution to increase engagement and bridge the division between student-athletes and students not involved in athletics. The undergraduate student body will wear purple on Fridays, and CSG will advertise this event as Purple Friday. Additionally, the vice president of student communication will inform students by sending out a campus-wide email. 

• Topics of discussion: 

• • Athletic Fitness Center (AFC) and Carriage House Van Management Issues: Danielson described to CSG members that there are issues reserving vans. Interested students do not know which vans are missing and where they can be located. Danielson motioned to have the Safety Committee since facilities oversee the vans.

• Executive Board reports

• • Announcement of new office hours interpretation for senators: Bobik announced the passing of a new interpretation of the office hours specifically for senators. Now, while still required to serve one hour a week, those hours are seen as cumulative, meaning that each senator only needs to serve a total of 15 hours this term. Additionally, senators now have three different ways that they can fulfill this requirement. They can either continue to serve an hour at the Carriage House each week, attend a community outreach project like the annual town hall or they can attend a student organization, campus or Chatham athletic event as a member of the student government. 

• • Vice president for communications: Jenkins reported that she has updated the CSG website to include information on the times and locations of office hours for Executive Board officers and any other Senate members that are choosing to hold weekly office hours in the Carriage House.      

•  Standing committee reports

• • Safety committee: Class of 2025 Vice President Madison Smith raised a concern to the Safety Committee about finding a safer alternative to the current shower curtains in Fickes Hall. The current shower curtains were reported to not have anything securing them to the wall, making them easier to open while someone is in the shower and not protecting the users’ privacy. Harris recommended attaching a hanger to hold the curtain in place. Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Chris Purcell said that he would take the lead on this issue.      

• Open forum

• • Increase office hours locations: Domke suggested increasing the number of office hour locations by two to increase the visibility of CSG. He motioned to refer the issue to the Executive Board for further discussion.                            

• Appointments and Resignations:

• • Rachel Sanders ’26 resigned as the class of 2026 representative.
  • Rapsky was appointed as the chair of the ad-hoc mental health committee that will focus on increasing mental health resources for students. 
  • Randall was appointed as the parliamentarian. 

Oct. 19

• Unfinished business:

• • Previous items submitted for legislative action: Members voted to postpone both measures, a measure increasing CSG visibility and the measure to increase the transparency of Chatham Student Government, indefinitely and instead reintroduced them as a bill to increase CSG visibility and CSG and bill to increase the transparency of Chatham Student Government, respectively. Randall and Bobik agreed that these two measures would better serve CSG as bills instead of measures. The bills will be discussed at the next meeting. 

• New business:

• • Submitted items for legislative actions:
    • A Resolution condemning the Chatham University Board and recognizing the injustice of removing bus passes from staff and faculty University ID cards: Created by Adkins, Bobik and Danielson, this resolution recognized the injustice of the decision from Chatham to remove staff and faculty bus passes from their University ID cards. The resolution recognized that many staff and faculty take public city transport to the Shadyside campus and that it is unsustainable to remove this service when parking is already limited. The resolution also stated that free public transport should be accessible for staff, faculty and students.
    • A measure proposing the establishment of an ad hoc Athletic Engagement Committee: Rapsky, Slovikosky, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Madison Stokes ‘26, Class of 2026 Secretary Jonah Schiffgens-Smith, Jenkins and Class of 2024 Representative Melissa Redding proposed the establishment of an ad hoc Athletic Engagement Committee to bridge the student-athlete divide by promoting intramural sports, increasing the accessibility of the Athletic Fitness Center (AFC) to everyone. Additionally, the proposed committee must be chaired by Danielson. Harris motioned to approve the measure. The motion passed and the measure was adopted. 

• A Bill to clarify the role of bills and measures: Created by Bobik and Randall, this bill lists the new role of bills and measures in CSG. Bills are responsible for creating the general rule to continue an effect, which will be later codified in bylaws. Measures are responsible for specific mandates or actions except the creation of ad hoc committees or the confirmation of an executive president’s appointment.

• Executive Board reports:

• • Executive President: Adkins reported that President Rhonda Phillips will be attending the next CSG meeting. During the meeting, CSG will explain their goals for the term, then give Dr. Phillips an opportunity to describe her goals as well. CSG will then ask any questions from a document sent out to CSG members ahead of time. 
  • Vice President for Communications: Jenkins proposed two future CSG events. The Communication and Engagement Committee proposed a committee fair at 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 7thon the Quad. Different CSG committees will be able to table to encourage more students to join. Classes with vacancies can also utilize this time to fill the empty positions.  CSG members can also use this time to count towards their cumulative office hour requirement. CEC also proposed a Town Hall meeting on Thursday, Nov. 16. Both motions carried. Additionally, Bobik recommended waiving the regular meeting on the day of the Town Hall. This motion also carried.  
  • Vice President for Diversity and Equity: Class of 2025 President Maggie Vargo and Randall motioned for an executive session to occur to discuss the Senate response to the Israel-Gaza conflict. This required outside members to leave. According to Bobik, an executive session is a standard parliamentary procedure that allows for the confidentiality of items that came before the senate meeting. 12 members motioned for the indefinite postponement of the response to the Israel-Gaza conflict. Two members were opposed to this decision, and one member abstained from the decision.  

• Class Reports:

• • Class 2026: Rapsky reported that the class of 2026 met with Hunter Dyar from the immersive media department to discuss their class project.​​ They are hoping to use the class budget to pay immersive media students for their help with the project. According to Rapsky, their project seeks to decrease food waste on campus by creating a digital system to notify students when there are events on campus with free food. 

• Open Forum:

• • Post-Gazette support: Jenkins read out a concern from an anonymous student regarding the University’s support for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette during the strike against it. Members discussed how the University is supporting the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The idea of the Office of Career Development posting jobs on Handshake for students arose in the discussion. Jenkins said that she would further investigate this concern. 

• Appointments and Resignations: 
  • Sam Helton ’24 resigned as the class 2024 representative.
  • Ashanti Lopez ’24 was appointed as the class 2024 vice president. 

• If students are interested in getting involved with CSG, they can attend an in-person meeting in the Conover Room in the Mellon Board Room on Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Students can also visit the CSG website to learn more about the organization.