New changes in SGA leadership

Latest meeting introduces a new parliamentarian

The SGA meeting took place on Oct. 22, with notable changes in the organization’s leadership structure.

A new parliamentarian, television digital media production junior Justin Reifeis, was appointed and spoke at the gathering. 

Reifeis explained his reasoning for accepting the position and why he considers this role to be a great fit for him.

Newly appointed parliamentarian, junior Justin Reifeis, presents ideas at the SGA’s Oct. 22 meeting. Photo by: Sam Mulder | Torch Photographer

“I’m excited about it because I think it’s room for just a whole bunch of improvement that nobody has looked at,” Reifeis said. “And if nobody is focused on some and it’s just room for anybody to come around and be like ‘Oh well, let’s see what we can do to create here.’ And that’s my thing, I’m a TDMP major, so I like to create.”

Reifeis mentioned his desire to update the system framework and introduced Canvas Connect Live as a news source that can be used for all student and staff issues. He encouraged members to share their concerns.  

“Right now, the biggest plan is Campus Connect Live,” Reifeis said. “And the reason why that’s such a big initiative is because the perspective from staff is not typically talked about and regarded in student problems and that gives a sense of transparency that needs to be there, so students know how everyone feels about those issues.”  

Reifeis also stated that they were going to be starting on this initiative next semester at the beginning of the year with a marketing campaign. Those working on the initiative currently meet on Wednesdays in the CVL building in room 322 at 12 p.m.

Part of the plan for SGA is to start a live-streaming app that will eventually stream the meetings twice a month. 

 “A notification will go right to your phone, and you can click on it, and it will go to a dedicated player,” Reifeis said. “Kind of like how YouTube works. So, we look to have our own platform, that way we will move away from getting all mixed up in everything else that was going on before. We’ll try to work around what we’ve got. I hear there’s a lot of problems in everything that was set up and that’s why we’ve strayed away from it, but what is it for a new parliamentarian to get into?” 

Additionally, former Parliamentarian computer information systems junior Okedi Matseka changed his job from parliamentarian to director of philanthropy.  

SGA President computer information systems senior Stephen Bender further explained why Matseka changed from parliamentarian to director of philanthropy.

“Once Pedro [Saltini] resigned, I put the things that Pedro had been working on onto Okedi and found pretty huge success in that,” Bender said. “So, I knew that he would be a good role and chose to appoint him to director of philanthropy.”

 The SGA meetings occur every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the David L. Eisler Center in the Founder’s Room.