Several Emerson students present at the Student Government Association’s meeting voiced concerns about the college’s endowment during an open forum, saying SGA was doing the “direct opposite” of giving money to the Emerson community. 

The concerns came amid an online post circulating accounts run by the Boylston Student Union, Boylston Students for Justice For Palestine, and Discipline News, unaffiliated groups on campus, who urged students to attend Friday’s meeting and “tell [SGA] why we should fund our community over investments.”

“Whether [it’s the] whole number or [a] penny of that money, that money came from student tuition and [was] promised to go back to [the] community,” one student, who did not provide a name to the meeting or The Beacon, nor any other identifying details, said “Appropriating our money … by definition is exploitation.”

Another unidentified student said SGA talked about how the Student Impact Fund goes to students, and “putting this money into [the endowment] … more for [the] school’s image—our president’s one claim to fame.”

“It’s [a] scam, [it’s] money taken directly from our pockets … [student organizations] couldn’t have services during COVID,” the student added. “Why should it be going to a president who has not earned this money?”

There was also concern over what is in Emerson’s endowment fund investment profile. 

“[It’s a] good place for money to be invested,” the student said. “[But, it] does feel as though it’s a way for the administration to claim victory for helping their students through their fund through the endowment.” 

Members of SGA listened to and responded to the questions and concerns brought up. 

“The college itself does not know exactly what stocks make up its stock profile,” Executive Vice Treasurer Angus Abercrombie said. “We are very aware as an organization that there are a lot of companies in the world that do good things [and] bad things.”

Abercrombie added that if the funds are invested into the endowment, SGA views that as “applied pressure” on the college. Throughout this semester, SGA has engaged in several discussions about endowment with the general assembly at its meetings. In February, SGA conducted a survey gauging a range of reactions to its proposal of investing unused Student Impact funds. 

SGA would receive around $30,000 to $40,000 back from the investment each year, and would have sole control over these funds to create financial aid and scholarships, according to Executive President Nandan Nair. “[It’s the] only way we can do it—[to] put it in some kind of fund long term,” Nair said.

“Are we waiting 40 years to make this return?” the first student speaker asked. “[The funds] could go to bring back people who [have] been laid off, scholarships, and [a] council for arts and culture, Palestinian life on campus, [get the] rats out of dining areas, for [an] alternative group of social workers [instead of] ECPD.”

“[SGA] cannot exist in an ivory tower, it has to work in tandem with [the] community it’s trying to represent,” the student continued. “[It] should be by the students and … needs to have its ear to the student movement as it claimed last year with [its] ‘no confidence vote.’”

Nair and Executive Vice President Kayla Armbruster after the meeting said it was great to hear student voices.

“We definitely do take that feedback into consideration and into our future planning,” Armbruster said.

“We never want this to feel like it’s just us making decisions for everyone else,” Nair added. “We’ve been rebuilding this whole year and trying to figure out how we fix our communication model.”

Nair said that this process is ongoing and is hoping to get more information out to the community in coming weeks.

“We never want students to feel like … student government is on this pedestal, because it’s not what it is,” Armbruster said.

Both Nair and Armbruster said that they welcome students to come to future meetings and more productive discussions.

“Two proposals are coming up,” Nair said. “Which one gets approved is entirely up to the Financial Advisory Board and general assembly.” Nair clarified that the proposal to invest would not use the entire Student Impact Fund, but around $575,000 of it.

Investing the funds is not the only plan SGA has, according to Armbruster. The funds can still be used for the same purpose of creating financial aid opportunities and scholarships for students.

“This plan is not [the] end all be all,” Armbruster said. “However, [this] looks different because [there are] a bunch of restrictions for this plan, [and] vice versa.”

“[We] invite you guys to come back, collaborating and voicing your opinions again,” Armbruster said to the students who spoke up.

SGA also heard from Assistant Vice President of IT Security and Infrastructure Francis Frain who joined from Zoom to talk about the Workday Student Project, otherwise known as the Student Modernization Project, according to Frain. “[The] project team is about 60 people [and] … it affects every single student.” 

Frain said configuration takes about a year and a half and is starting this summer. “The whole thing is about student experience … [and] improving experience,” he said. There are a number of processes that are likely going to change according to Frain, including the way departments are going to do work and financial aid.

“[It’s] one of the biggest technology projects happening at Emerson,” Frain said, who is also an Emerson alumni who has worked at the college for 20 years. “[It’s] the biggest [project] I have ever been involved in at Emerson.”

Emerson has been using Workday for its college’s payroll, human resources, and finance since 2019, according to Frain. The student view uses Banner by Ellucian, allowing students to access their degree audit, records, and register for courses. But Frain said it has become “aged” and an “inflexible system.” 

“Parents and students who want to work with financial aid and see what [the financial] officer is seeing, Banner doesn’t provide that kind of support,” Frain said, an example being screensharing. “Banner [also] doesn’t directly involve faculty.”

Another platform presented to SGA at the meeting was CampusGroups, similar to EmConnect which Emerson has had for seven years. EmConnect is a system that helps Emerson students find student organizations, areas of interest, and events. But, Student Engagement and Leadership Director Jennifer Nival said Emerson only has the EmConnect system for another year when its 3-year contract is up.

Some of the feedback about EmConnect from the general assembly is that students do not use the platform because other forms of communication through email and Instagram are better for interaction between students and their organizations. 

“After 10 months of consideration, SEAL would like to move forward,” Nival said. “[We want] to pilot it this time next year Spring 2026 [and] fully implement it in Fall 2026.”

Nival also talked about how EmConnect’s current expenses are split between a SEAL and SGA operating budget, with a small contribution from Housing and Residential Education. The current expense of EmConnect is $39,999 and the projected expense of CampusGroups is $43,522.

The Student Impact Fund Request is for an overlap between EmConnect and CampusGroups so that Emerson still has a platform. Nival noted there is a one time implementation fee of close to $6,000.

Abercrombie offered S. Res. 5, “a resolution reserving and committing Student Impact funds to support [the] transition.” 

“We are committed to funding this,” Abercrombie said. “For SEAL, they cannot push forward if they don’t know the money is going to be there.”

In a roll call vote, the resolution for CampusGroups to have a budget passed with 13 in agreement and one abstention.