Student Association Senate Convenes Second Meeting

By Lucienne Burns | September 8, 2025

The Student Association, along with new prospective members, convened for their second meeting of the fall semester. 

Photo Credit: Lucienne Burns / The ASP

University at Albany’s Student Association held their second meeting of the 2025-2026 academic year on Wednesday (9/3). The agenda consisted of one bill but prospective members filled the room in anticipation of the General Senate Election during the week of Sept 12. 

This meeting covered discussions following the recent Block Party, appointed four individuals to the University Auxiliary Services Board, and addressed student concern regarding reproductive health resources on campus. 

During the public comment section of the meeting, some students spoke and voiced gratitude towards the Student Association, specifically about Block Party and its success. 

“I just wanted to say really quickly that Block Party was pretty awesome, and it was a marvelous, marvelous event that I got to take part in,” one member of the public said. 

President Trevor Pettit also expressed that SA had received positive feedback from students on the event during his executive report, mentioning that the new cluster tabling method used for the event was effective overall. 

Senator Carolina Thomas addressed student concerns about emergency contraceptive availability on campus. Contraceptive and medication vending machines were installed last year by SA, providing free reproductive resources to students on campus.

“I’ve heard from several students, on top of online, that the Plan B machine in the Dean’s Lounge is empty, and there are rumors that it is not being restocked,” Thomas said. 

In response to Thomas, the SA Director of Health and Disability, Pratiksha Malayil, resolved rumors, assuring that machines would be refilled. 

Malayil explained that the machine is donation-based, and that they initially asked for a large number of pallets of the contraceptives, but did not predict to run out of stock in such a short amount of time. 

“They [the donation agency] only gave us a certain number, and they went very quickly,” Malayil said. “So we requested more from them, and we’re still waiting on them to give us more. It’s going to be refilled no matter what– we’ll look into purchasing them if that’s something that we need to do.”

Malayil recommends that in the time being, students should be directed elsewhere, like Planned Parenthood, and also to the health bookshelf located in the SA office, where there are free condoms and other resources available. 

Along with her response to this concern, she also announced in the report that students should begin to see rollout of menstrual product dispensers in ADA accessible restrooms on campus. 

The legislative agenda only contained one bill, appointing four individuals to the UAS board to serve: Senator Grace Augenstern, Abdul Kablaoui– a former senator–, Senator Meredith Rosenbaum, and Vice President Allison Mitchell. These appointments will serve on the board for the duration of the 2025-2025 academic year. 

There is no requirement that the SA Vice President has to serve on the board, but Pettit followed last year’s precedent when deciding to pitch Mitchell for the role. 

As for the Dippikill conflict, Pettit acknowledged it briefly in his executive report, announcing new developments occurring as recently as the day before. 

“The Dippikill situation is making some solid progress. Just yesterday, the Dippikill Board passed a letter of intent in favor of a reopened, restructured, and operational Dippikill,” Pettit said. “I’ve been working hardly with the UAS and Alumni Association to ensure that all stakeholders are properly heard and represented.”

Meeting minutes from last year’s final meeting (4/30) have not been approved, but the minutes from last Wednesday have been, as SA recently appointed Addison Schrader to be Senate Clerk for the 2025-2026 academic year.