With the end of the school year approaching, the Student Government Association (SGA) sat down on Wednesday, March 21, to gather ideas for the last few months of the semester, to discuss new plans for next fall and to prepare for SGA elections this week.

Junior David Palmer, a representative from the Residence Hall Association (RHA), began by questioning the changes being made to the dorm buildings around campus.

“We’ve heard a lot of talk about renovations to Mitchell,” he stated. “But we still haven’t heard a set plan of what’s going on or when things are going to take off.”

According to Dennis Carringi, SGA president, renovations to Mitchell Hall are for the new Madden School of Business and will take place over the next two years, beginning with the addition of conference rooms and offices.

“The renovations will begin on the first floor, then they’ll add to the second floor and work their way up,” Carringi explained.

Palmer also noted that St. Mary’s plans to become a coed dorm next year, even though students were never asked to give input on the decision.

“RHA heard about it [St. Mary’s going coed], but we never had any say in it,” Palmer added. “Students are just frustrated they had no say in where they’re going to live.”

Carringi noted that St. Mary’s going coed had been discussed in previous SGA meetings.

“We have talked about it here and we reported what was said to administration,” Carringi said. “I guess they thought what we reported was enough sound student input to make St. Mary’s coed.”

Carringi also added that no current SGA members have ever lived in St. Mary’s, so they could only base their decisions off what they heard from other students around campus.

“There was no real opposition against it [going coed],” he said.

Krystal Ashey, a freshman representative, and Shaneeke Bascoe, a junior representative, disagreed with Carringi’s statement.

“Everyone that I’ve spoken to likes St. Mary’s single-sex,” Ashey stated.

“No one wants it to go coed,” Bascoe added.

Jules Shelton responded that many females in St. Mary’s live in singles, while boys in Nelligan and Dablon are tripled.

“I remember the big issue being how to de-triple guys,” she said. “Making St. Mary’s coed was the easiest solution.”

Along with changes to the dorm buildings, SGA members also discussed what students would like to see at this year’s Dolphy Day.

“In the past, Dolphy Day didn’t include bouncy houses and caricature drawings and the ice cream truck,” Carringi noted. “It was just going outside and enjoying the nice weather and music.

“Not surprisingly, most SGA members wanted to keep Dolphy Day the same as it has been the past few years. The only opposition many students had with last year’s event was the food selection.”

“The food was absolutely awful,” Allison Herholtz, a sophomore representative, said. “After a long morning and a long day, we should have something good to eat.”

Carringi responded that SGA would look into better food options.

Furthermore, Student Government office elections are being held March 26 until March 30 through Le Moyne’s CampusGroups site. Students can vote online at lemoyne.campusgroups.com/SGA.

Students will have the opportunity to vote for their class year representatives, president, vice president, speaker of the house, academic affairs chair, public relations chair, comptroller, secretary, student affairs chair and diversity affairs chair.

For more information about SGA elections and the changes being made around campus or to vote in this year’s elections, students can visit their website at lemoyne.campusgroups.com/SGA. Students can also attend their weekly meetings on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. in Grewen Hall 408.