Naomi Girson | staff writer

Nick Miller led his first meeting as the youngest SGA president in recent history, with his new executive board right behind him.

Duquesne University’s last Student Government Association meeting of the school year, held on Wednesday, was the first meeting to be run by their freshly inaugurated 54th senate.

The meeting was a look ahead to the future, including changes from the federal administration.

At open forum, Dean of Students and SGA advisor Adam Wasilko touched on the $100 million deficit Pittsburgh Regional Transit could face in 2026, and how many bus routes will affect commuter students and faculty. PRT asked him to see if students on campus had anything to say about it.

“They reached out to us to see if we had any students that wanted to give a testimonial or write about how this would negatively impact their lives,” Wasilko said. “So, if you’re interested in that let me know if you want to submit a testimonial.”

Along with the students, many faculty members at Duquesne will be directly affected by the loss from PRT.

On a similar note, Miller talked about his ad hoc transportation committee, transportation is still a priority to him, but with his new role, he has passed on some of the work to Student Life.

All 10 of the senators were recognized at the meeting, one by one approaching the dais and collecting a senator pin.

Miller has plans to attempt to widen SGA by a large margin, hoping to have double the numbers by January.

All the previous senators who did not run for reelection can be reinstated at the first meeting of the next semester, on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

Each member of the executive board went into more specifics of their goals for the next year.

Samiya Henry, Vice President of Mission and Community, made history by giving the official first report in her newly established position.

When the position was still being workshopped, there was a suggestion to create a university-wide program that would familiarize more people with mission and community, and create an on-campus tradition that would continue on each year.

Henry’s program is Duquesne Community Day, where all the multicultural organizations on campus as well as other inclusive departments could set up, and she is tentatively planning on having it in October, around homecoming.

“It would really just bring everybody together and would create some sort of spaces where you can join the clubs, learn more resources about all these wonderful departments on campus but it would really just be showcasing all the different cultures, religions aspects, anything that you can really think of that we have here at Duquesne,” Henry said.

She has already met with the Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Quincy Stephenson and Vice President of Student Life, Leanna Fenneberg, to get clarity on her involvement with Duquesne Community Day.

SGA’s original last meeting of the year was canceled on account of the Student Organization Leadership and Service Awards, being held on the same day, taking precedence.

They will next meet on September 10 — meeting location to be announced.

Naomi Girson can be reached at girsonn@duq.edu.