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The ongoing struggle for LAMBDA Gender Sexuality Alliance to change their name came to a turning point at the Student Government Association meeting on Nov. 6. The organization has effectively dropped LAMBDA from their title and will now go by Gender Sexuality Alliance, which has been approved by the university.

Nialah Miller, Gender Sexuality Alliance president, said that despite the university’s reservations about the organization being named Queer Student Association, they were open to changing it to something else so long as they were “mindful” of wording.

After discussion with other executive board members, the organization agreed that dropping LAMBDA would raise awareness for the organization.

LAMBDA has historically acted as a symbol for queer individuals to signal to others their affiliation with the community, with the Greek symbol appearing in the title of several organizations according to De Montfort University.

Miller said dropping LAMBDA was a way for the club to toe the line between a “tacky” name and one that still makes it clear what the organization is.

“It [LAMBDA] was used as a secret way to tell what you’re doing that’s really not what we’re aiming for,” Miller said. “I feel like it’s better for visibility. It’s not what we were aiming for, but in general, it’s better than where we were before,” Miller said.

Since Miller will be stepping down as president next academic year, she plans to prepare rising GSA board members to continue pushing for the name QSA in the future.

The finance committee announced club conference appropriations, which are to be distributed to six organizations. There was $4,500 allocated for disbursement among the clubs. Distribution was decided based on interviews with each club, said Tyler Schultz, finance committee chair. The committee has already received eight applications for conference appropriations for next semester.

American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists received $650

Disc Golf Club at Duquesne received $800

National Student Speech Language Hearing Association received $900

Kappa Alpha Psi received $650

Pennsylvania Society of – Health-System Pharmacists received $800

Sports Marketing Association received $700

Sean Marshall, the vice president of finance, said emails regarding student discounts will be sent in the near future, an effort the finance committee has been spearheading since the beginning of the semester.

The committee swore in two new senators:

Quintin Sarne

Damaria Wedderburn

The committee omnibus approved 18 new student organization constitutions:

Paranormal Society at Duquesne

Neurological Diseases Society

Karaoke Club at Duquesne

Nepali Students Association (NSA)

Global Links on Campus

Book Club at Duquesne University

Minority Student Organization – (MSO)

Pep Band Club at Duquesne

The Classical Society of Duquesne University

NBA Student Chapter at Duquesne

Divine Vision Club

National Council of Negro Women (NCNW)

Computer Science Club Student Association of Duquesne University

Rugby Football Club at Duquesne (RFC)

The Pop Culturists

The College Democrats at Duquesne

Duquesne Cycling Club – needs name change

The Explore Pittsburgh Club

In light of the election, SGA shared with the committee resources for students who feel they need support in the coming days including election stress workshops and counseling.

“There was drop-in counseling today at the counseling and well being center … those are probably going to be ongoing,” Braden Niles, vice president of academic affairs, said.

President Faith Cook also emphasized the resources.

“If you need anyone to talk to you, if you need anyone to direct you to some resources, please, please reach out,” Cook said.

Adam Wasilko, dean of students and faculty advisor to SGA, said emails have begun going out to students who are at risk of failing a course. He wanted to remind first semester freshmen that they have an extended period to withdraw from a course if it is at risk of putting them in poor academic standing.

“Don’t ignore that email,” Wasilko said. “There should be no reason for you … to start next semester without a really great GPA”

The Ad Hoc transportation committee, led by Senator Nick Miller, has formulated survey questions which they will soon translate into a Google form, which will then be distributed to students. Miller said they want to find out what the biggest transportation issues are for students and will meet with a data scientist to get insight on the questions.

Brailey Frankhouser, vice president of student life, said she followed up on the concern over the price of Silk Milk in The Market, but is still pending a response.

The SGA essay scholarship winner has been decided by the committee, but not notified yet.

The student life committee will begin decorating for Night of Lights tomorrow, starting with the trees outside of Canevin Hall and Gumberg Library.

SGA has two more meetings this semester, the next being Nov. 20.