The Student Government Association (SGA) held their first meeting of the 2025-26 school year on Wednesday, Oct. 1, at 6:30 p.m. in the Cape Code Lounge of the Student Union.
The meeting began by acknowledging the Fall 2025 Senate elections. There were 1,149 votes cast and the top 15 candidates were elected. The Senators-elect were sworn in and affirmed to faithfully execute the office of senator and support the SGA’s Constitution and Bylaws.
This was followed up with a legislative agenda given by SGA President Michael Borowski, who said he is focused on emphasizing large projects this year.
Last spring, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Shelly Perdomo-Ahmed funded a team of consultants to create a report on SGA processes. The report decided that a rewritten Constitution, set of Bylaws and guidelines are necessary. The SGA’s processes have not been changed since 1994 and need this refurbishment, according to Perdomo-Ahmed’s consultants.
“As you can imagine, the campus has changed a lot since 1994, and with that, the student body,” Borowski said.
In his agenda, Borowski encouraged everyone on the senate, including new members, to reach out to him with any insights for new administrative changes.
The SGA will conduct a vote on the Constitution and Bylaws in late November and will adopt them into practice in fall 2026.
Secretary of Diversity James L Carroll IV took the stand to honor and uplift diversity on campus and in the community. Carroll acknowledged Hispanic Heritage month, which is between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, and National Disability Employment Awareness and Breast Cancer Awareness months, which are both also observed in October.
The Committee of the Whole was then called upon to discuss major announcements. Chair of Academic Oversight Committee Cass Melo, Borowski and Chief of Staff Haley Martin discussed Faculty Senate Committees and Student Advisory Boards (SAB).
The committee acknowledged the importance of SGA members filling spots on these committees and boards since they are the head liaison between the study body and University of Massachusetts administration.
“Part of our responsibility of sitting on the SGA is to sit on some of these boards because this is really where your voice can be heard,” Martin said.
Melo is a part of the University Relations (UR) SAB and said that it is feedback oriented and cares deeply about student voices so “that they actually create the agenda around exactly what we care about and what we want to talk about.”
S.4 to S.6 motions to appoint new members to vacant senate seats for classes of 2026, 2027 and 2028 passed. S.7 to S.8 motions to re-allocate members to vacant Senate seats for the class of 2026 passed. S.9 to S.15 motions to appoint members to the standing committee also passed.
As motions S.7 to S.8 were listed, Chair of Outreach & Development Committee Morgan Kim said that the re-allocation of members to vacant senate seats for the class of 2026 occurs when not enough applications come in for class of 2026 representatives. SGA reallocated people from class of 2027 and 2028 and put them as representatives for class of 2026.
During officer reports, Borowski said that there have been productive conversations with Chancellor Javier Reyes, Vice Chancellor Sheri Neshiem and other administrators.
Secretary of University Policy Jacob Nevins then listed the university projects he is working on. Nevins is working on expanding the Food Recovery Network resources, creating an environmental General Education Requirement, Green New Deal campus policies, free menstrual products in residential and academic bathrooms and about 19 others.
Nevins is hiring secretaries and University Policy Project Managers to join him in these projects.
Chair of the Ways and Means Committee Darren Truong spoke about information that will be sent out from upcoming financial reforms and the state of the Student Affairs Trust Fund.
Associate Director for Student Governance JD DiLoreto-Hill spoke about his excitement to have his position and work with the members. It is DiLoreto-Hill’s second semester working as the SGA advisor.
Pearl Davis can be reached at [email protected].
