St. Joe’s University Student Senate passed a resolution at their meeting March 27 to merge with the University City Student Government Association (SGA), which had been governing the student body at the former University of the Sciences.

The resolution passed unanimously by the 31 Senate members in attendance.

The two organizations had created a committee to finalize details of their merger and to make revisions to the Student Senate constitution. 

“We’ve been having conversations since August, but we’ve officially formed a committee around three months ago and have been meeting on a weekly basis,” said Julia Butler ’23, president of Student Senate.

Butler explained the committee was created to help make revisions to the Student Senate’s constitution and draft rules to help make the transition as smooth and as fair as possible. 

Former SGA President Noelle Siekmann ’23 found the merger challenging at first, but was glad they got the job done.

“It was definitely a lot at first, just tough knowing that we’re taking two pretty important organizations for the two different campuses and making them one,” Siekmann said.

Dana Hungerford ’23, Student Senate speaker, said this opportunity is a big moment for the university, and she is proud of the accomplishment.

 “To my knowledge we are one of the first organizations at St. Joe’s to merge with its equivalent organization,” Hungerford said.

With the two organizations merging, the name will remain University Student Senate.

Senate representation on Hawk Hill for University City will officially start in the 2023-24 school year. This semester, students based at the University City campus will elect a vice president and five senators to represent them in the Senate. 

All Student Senate meetings next year will take place on the Hawk Hill campus.