For those of you who don’t know me, I am Lauren Fuhring, your Student Government Association Vice President. Your SGA President Vinny Guinta wrote a previous blog to reach out to the student body and encourage campus involvement. I am writing this to reach out to you as well, but in light of a different topic.
As many of you know, an email was sent out last Thursday night (Oct. 17) following the events that occurred in the Village this past week. For those of you who did not receive the email, it outlined new guidelines that Public Safety would actively follow to prevent any more dangerous incidents. They are planning to have patrol cars return to the Village and discourage any non-Village residents from entering the general area.
In the beginning of last year, SGA was successful in reducing the patrols that visited the Village, but unfortunately, now they will be forced to return due to a small group of students that were disrespectful to Public Safety and subsequently, their fellow students.
This semester, SGA created the Village Housing Agreement that brought the residents in each stairwell together to discuss how they would go about communicating if any of them were being disruptive. That process went smoothly, and we are very proud of the accomplishment.
The email most of the student body received on Oct. 17 suggested that the Village Housing Agreement failed because of the incidents that happened in the Village. Because of this, I have decided to write this blog to clarify SGA’s stance on this matter.
The Village Housing Agreement is aimed at forming a sense of community for the students that live there. The events that occurred last week were not related to the Housing Agreement; it was merely a disrespectful act committed by a small group of students, unfortunately leading to restrictions of all Ramapo students because of consequential policy changes made by Public Safety.
As the SGA, we have always been advocates for the students, as we will continue to be. We are working hard to get the word out about this matter to other student leaders as well as clubs, organizations and sports teams to stop the disrespectful actions of the students acting out dangerously, as well as have Public Safety re-evaluate their recent policy changes.
The Student Government Association will be hosting an open forum on Wednesday, Oct. 30 from 1 to 2 p.m. in Friends Hall. Please try to keep that date and time open if you have any questions for Public Safety Chief Vincent Markowski, as well as Associate Vice Presidents for Student Affairs Miki Cammarata and Patrick Chang.
I hope this blog cleared up some confusion and animosity toward the SGA. We will always strive to be the voice of the students, and we hope that this open forum will give you the opportunity to speak your minds.
If you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to email me at lfuhring@ramapo.edu. I will make sure to answer any email as quickly as possible.
Editor’s Note: The Ramapo News provides space for bloggers on campus to express their views. These views are theirs and theirs alone and do not reflect anyone on the staff.
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lfuhring@ramapo.edu
