This interview has been edited for time and clarity.
After the resignation of Muhammed Catovic, Stacy Richards was appointed as the new SGA vice president. Mariellie Colón was able to sit down with her and discussed how she got appointed and what plans and goals she has for her new role in the Student Government Association (SGA).
Mariellie Colón [Interviewer]: How long have you been at RVCC (Raritan Valley Community College) and how long have you been a part of student government?
Stacy Richards [Vice-President of Finance]: I’ve been a student at RVCC since the Fall semester of 2022 and I started off very unsure about being in SGA because I was really busy at the time. However, as of last semester, in the fall 2023, I was able to commit full time to SGA and join General Committee, and then progressively dedicated more time and made goals to climb up to where I am now.
Colón: So, you just got the role of VP of Finance? How did you get appointed to this role?
Richards: I was already voted in last year as a senator and my role was more involved working with the Athletics Department and helping out with promotional material and overall, having more of a student engagement and social media role. That went very well. I did make a few posts and videos for the regular athletics account and for the women’s account which was used for promoting games. That was also a lot of fun. The former vp of finance stepped down from the position and I only wanted to take on more roles for the SGA because I love it. We do a lot of good here, and athletics was something I really loved but also having an opportunity to talk to all the clubs and interact with more people on campus. I saw it as a plus. So, I was able to inquire about the position. From there, I was voted in again by the SGA to become the vice president of finance. I’m very excited about it. I’m very happy that they decided to all vote for me because they could have said no but luckily everyone agreed with it and saw that I was very ambitious about taking on my role.
Colón: OK, what plans and goals do you have while in this role?
Richards: Since I’m the liaison for the Business Department and the Health Science department now one of my current goals is to have more business-oriented events for business students because I feel they’re very helpful overall. We have one event scheduled so far, but I feel like everyone would utilize more from additional smaller events like loving local business type of activities, you know meeting speakers, having speakers come through and speak about their experiences about building in their businesses, being entrepreneurs, etc. I’m also creating a Microsoft form. This is my biggest goal right now, to create it and make it really pretty, make sure everyone has access to it, and that it’s more user-friendly. Since the forms are now really outdated and sometimes certain computers also don’t load it. So, it’s just a disadvantage, but everyone can use Microsoft Forms. I think it would just be easier and it’s a good solution. I’m partnering with Marie [Wicklund] and Fran [Boshell] to get that done and I’m very excited! That’s my biggest goal right now, and I think that everyone would benefit from it because, as we heard, people feel like the process is not benefiting them [the students]. We want to make a solution where it does benefit them, where they can quickly access it, and everything is easily laid out for them to understand. There’s no miscommunication on what we need and what they need to send to us or what they need from us.
Colón: A topic that has been very controversial like these past few weeks, this past year even, is the 45 days before requirement for the budget approval. What is your take on this controversy?
Richards: My take on the controversy is that I agree with some people, t-shirt purchases, and smaller requests don’t require the 45 days. It is very upsetting for clubs to feel like they’re restricted to the 45 days when it’s a t-shirt purchase and in those instances, so far when the clubs come to us and they hand a request in and it’s not 45 days, but if it is a t-shirt purchase, or something small in that regard, we have been able to pass it but the student doesn’t know that when they’re submitting it. They’re submitting it on a whim thinking that maybe they might not accept it. They don’t know that most of the time we will accept those but for conferences and events, they need those days because, as stated before (during the last general assembly) by Fran and other SGA members; spaces and the labor needs to be scheduled way ahead of time because there are so many events on campus where different rooms are going to be booked. Our Event Center is booked for months at a time, therefore it is very difficult to coordinate all these events, and it’s possible that we just need more spaces for events overall. Since they are limited and we have these long waitlists, everything needs to be done in a way where it takes 45 days but they [students] should know that if they’re requesting a t-shirt or equipment then they can submit a request at a shorter duration like 20 days (approximately three weeks). Three weeks would be more acceptable and hopefully we could communicate this to them [the students] because that’s what we know under our knowledge. I feel like some parts of the Budget Requirement needs to adhere to the 45 days (about a month and a half) and some parts of it does not and that’s why the Microsoft Forms will differentiate between conferences, events and purchasing, which will be the format we’re going towards. So, it is easier. That’s our plan for right now. So that students can bypass those 45 days.
Colón: And do you have a timeline on when those Microsoft forms would be made public?
Richards: Oh yes! By the next General Assembly, the Microsoft forms should be completed and should be done. Hopefully, I have all the green light from the other heads of the department, and we’ll push it through and have it on our website or through the emails that we send out on blast.
Colón: Do you have any comments for the RVCC community?
Richards: Yes. I would just like everyone to know that we, as an organization, are not perfect people. We are imperfect people. We have might have made mistakes, but we always have been well-intentioned. My job here and why I got committed to the SGA was to make RVCC a better community and have more students come together overall because it feels like sometimes, we aren’t. There are not a lot of events, there are not a lot of things oriented towards students getting together, communicating and fostering more of a community other than just sections of students lost and wandering about having no college involvement, which students don’t have to do. Sometimes just an event gives leeway to having conversations with people and then friendships. That’s why I joined, it was to instill that and continue those types of goals. I just want students to know that you can come to us. My door’s always open. I’m here all the time from Monday through Friday, so I’m always available to talk if you have any issues. Since I am the SGA vp of finance, if you need any help with budget requests or anything, or if you have an idea about an event that you just want to talk about then I’m here to listen and I’m here to help. So, if any clubs need help, in any regard, just please let me know.
Stacy Richards’ Office Hours: Monday 1:00pm-5:00pm; Tuesday and Thursday 4:00pm –
8:00pm through Microsoft Teams
Stacy Richards email: sric5297@stu.raritanval.edu
