Ember Duke | layout editor

In September, Sean Marshall, vice president of finance, announced his plan to increase the number of local businesses who offer discounts to Duquesne students. During Wednesday’s meeting, Marshall told SGA officials that the discounts would begin rolling out in the near future. Discounts will range from business to business.

“One business may give 10% while another gives a free side,” Marshall said in an email to The Duke.

While the finance committee is still working out exact businesses the discounts will apply to, Marshall said it will mostly be restaurants located in Market Square, the Strip District and some on Fifth Avenue.

The issue of Silk Milk pricing at The Market, which came up in the SGA meeting on Oct. 23, has been resolved. Brailey Frankhouser, vice president of student life, reported to the committee that Silk Milk is now once again covered by a meal swipe, as it was in previous academic years.

During the open forum session, the committee discussed the efficacy of Degree Planner, following its implementation in September. The platform is currently offered for the school of business, nursing, education and liberal arts exclusively.

While user experiences varied, many committee members made suggestions on how to improve the platform. Jayla Flennory, government operations chair, noted that her Degree Planner page did not update to reflect her new major requirements. Julianna Faber, student life chair, said the Degree Planner did not show up on her portal homepage, which she felt would boost awareness of the platform.

During the meeting SGA officials discussed the possibility of adding an activities fee to student tuition.

Adam Wasilko, SGA faculty advisor and dean of students at Duquesne said the fee would likely show up as $50 paid through student bills. The fee would provide students with free museum entry, sports tickets and other possible activities which directly benefit student experience. He said he plans to advocate against online students being forced to pay the fee.

Wasilko also mentioned that a bi-annual survey will go out soon for students to give feedback on all aspects of campus like parking, dining and residence halls. He said this allows the university to assess what they need to adjust for student satisfaction.

“We get down to a really granular level,” Wasilko said of the surveys.

On Thursday, Faith Cook, president, and Braden Niles, vice president of academics, will meet with administration about the university’s AI guidelines. At the beginning of the semester, the university implemented a new standard for AI policy, which put it in the hands of professors, as reported by The Duke.

Cook also took time to remind students of Duquesne’s Bias Education Respect Team — a resource where students can bring concerns over inappropriate or offensive incidents in the classroom.

“This is a place where, if somebody in the classroom experiences something that is not appropriate, or something happens that makes them feel uncomfortable, or they feel like something that was being taught was not sensitive or taught in the correct, appropriate way for everybody in the classroom,” Cook said. “It’s in some syllabi, but it’s not all of them.

She said reports can be anonymous, but it may be harder to initiate action if they are.

The committee installed three new senators

Hussein Zenki, a business law major.

Donay Allen, a political science and international relations major.

Preston Saia, a physics major.

Being that the business school reached its maximum number of senators, for Zenki to be appointed, the committee motioned to reallocate a senate seat from the school of nursing. It was turned into a general body seat.

Each school has an allocated number of representative seats based on the student body population belonging to that school. Both the business school and the school of education have reached their capacity of seats.

Total allotted seats for each school:

Business – 7

Education – 4

Health Sciences – 6

Law – 3

Liberal Arts – 7

Music – 2

Nursing – 6

Pharmacy – 4

Science and Engineering – 5

Medical School – 2

General body- 1

Cook said she is pushing for an additional vice president seat to be added for the Diversity, Inclusion and Identity committee. She said she is trying to get it sorted out before the next SGA election cycle in the spring.

With Thanksgiving just a week away, SGA has donated $250 to the annual Turkey Drive and will help to put together packages on Friday and sending them out to families on Saturday. The drive, organized by the Center for Excellence in Diversity and Student Inclusion, provides turkeys for approximately 200 families, according to the Duquesne University website.