SGA discusses shift in leadership, precautions for football games
October 7, 2022
During the Oct. 4 SGA meeting, the Senate discussed information regarding the shift in power to the new student body president, as well as safety information and requests pertaining to after-game rituals.
In light of the recent impeachment of former student body president Quson Brown, Senate President Gabriel Montalbano was appointed to take over.
In order for Montalbano to take the office, the swearing-in process will happen soon. This solidifies the process of him taking the new position, and accepting the responsibilities that come with it.
Due to the manner of this unorthodox presidency, Montalbano said elections will not be held. SGA is not able to have physical, paper ballots and using the previous methods have been deemed impossible by the senate, due to homecoming approaching fast.
However, Montalbano said he is not taking the position for the money.
“Basically, I really just wanna stress the fact that this was not what I wanted,” Montalbano said. “Scholarship, everything when it comes to external factors that people might be thinking I might have done to take the student body presidency.”
In the past, the Senate and the Executive branch have disagreed, and Montalbano said he intends to repair that rift.
“What’s caused a lot of the issues or lack of actually performing over the past two years has been in SGA with policy,” Montalbano said.
Among topics of discussion, the Senate also discussed precautions that were to be possibly put in place for football games. Following the subsequent damage inflicted after the past football games, police have been given stations in order to prepare for possible damage and activity that may occur before, during and after a game.
One of the bigger issues that aim to be tackled in the future pertains to student-inflicted damages in rushing the field, as well as the injuries that are caused by these actions, said Rules Committee chairman Hunter Clark.
Clark said due to the injuries that have been caused by rushing the field after a win, the policing committee has considered figuring out how to get an ambulance system to go to App State.
Clark said this was brought up as a method to help keep students safe, as they are aware that many students may decide to ignore the new set of guidelines.
“A lot of students are getting injured and what they stress during the police advisory board meeting is that we want, they want the culture to change about rushing the field,” Clark said.
In addition to the new stationing and placement, additional security measures have been requested by the Police Committee. These include making each building accessible by AppCard, getting more security cameras put in place and displaying toxicity levels outside the Duck Pond.
These precautions are to be put in place once they are passed, and are to keep students and staff safe, Clark said.
Toxicology reports would be posted outside the pond to keep students aware of what would be going into their bodies if they jump in.
As well as these new possible implemented regulations, two new members were sworn into the Senate.
