On Nov. 22, 2018, the United Student Government concluded this year’s round of elections, with the departure of eleven previous members and the inauguration of eleven more to fill their ranks.

The new representatives to USG include the following:

Tolu Adebayo, ‘20

Matt Anderson,‘20

Nadia Belverio, ‘22

Joanne Augustin, ‘20

Harley Bender, ‘22

Britney Blaise, ‘20

Bryan Kelly,  ‘20

Charlotte Reid, ‘22

Blake Schuck,  ‘22

Josiah Soto, ‘20

Sophia Starner, ‘21

Matt Geary ‘20 is continuing as president while Alec Buttner ‘21 is now serving as the newly elected Executive Vice President.

While much of USG’s policies are summarized in their October and September newsletters, here are a few of the additional decisions they have made regarding various aspects of campus life.

Club Deactivations:

One of USG’s jobs is to deactivate clubs. They only take this step after the clubs dwindle in activity and the club leaders are given adequate time to respond and fail to do so. The two clubs that were deactivated this semester were the African Students Association and the Religious Studies Society.

Furthermore, there was discussion as to whether the Political Awareness Committee (PAC) should be deactivated. Although PAC has had lagging membership this semester, USG believed that the organization has had a good track record and should be given fair warning before deactivation.

As Representative Alec Buttner put it, “Every club has been through rough patches.”

At a small campus like Moravian that happens to boast over 60 clubs and organizations, some that have overlapping goals, it is necessary to carefully oversee and adjust how clubs are functioning and if they are actively working towards their purpose.

Lighting and Security:

USG has been taking action to improve lighting on campus this semester. They replaced bulbs around the campus, cut low-bearing trees on the Main Street walkway toward Comenius to prevent students from tripping, and added a lighting fixture to the back of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) house.

An important discussion also revolved around cameras on campus. Moravian
College policy is to not place cameras inside the dorms for privacy reasons, but it does allow  cameras to face the doors of the Rau-Hassler building and the HILL.

Representative Voting Record:

USG discussed whether or not to record how representatives vote on each topic and publish this information to the public.

Although many were in favor, one representative, Vina-Andrea Aguirre, commented that if students do not attend the open meetings, and the individual votes are published, it could give the perception that USG is not “one.”

Overload Course Policy:

USG talked about allowing students of at least sophomore standing to take 5 course units at no charge as long as they have a 3.0 GPA.

Contact USG at [email protected] or go to their weekly open meetings, 4:30-6:00 pm in the HUB UBC room.