By Garrett Adams, Staff Writer
Last Monday’s Senate meeting featured remarks from President Bob Iuliano, debate on a new amendment, and affirmation of donating money from the Senate rollover account towards the Emergency Fund.
President Iuliano began the meeting by giving a few words of advice and wisdom to the Senate. He called on leaders of student organizations to help “all students to do what they came here to do.”
“The community we create is very much formed out of what you all work to create,” he said. “Create the community you all want to see here at Gettysburg.”
The president was followed by a new budget request by Bomb Squad. Their request was allotted in full.
Treasurer Giacomo Coppola ’22 welcomed more budget requests, announcing that less than half of the total budget has been spent so far. The average for this time of year sits around 55% according to data from previous Senate budgets.
Senate then opened debate on an amendment that was first introduced last week. The amendment would no longer require club representatives at the Senate meetings and would expand the role of the Affinity Group leader.
Some attendees voiced that by no longer requiring representatives, they feared students would feel uncomfortable making their opinions heard, or that clubs could fall out of touch with decisions made by Senate that impact their funding and club operations.
Henry Goodson ’22 felt that it made more sense to allow club representatives to vote in Senate and that by no longer requiring them was “a failure for us in trying to broaden the voice of senate on campus.”
Ultimately a voice vote was called by Senators to decide the amendment’s fate, which was tabled to be revisited at next week’s meeting.
When asked later about the debate President Iuliano said, “It’s encouraging to hear so many opinions and I encourage more students to let their voices be heard on these topics.”
Next, Senate approved the proposal that Senate would allot $15,000 dollars into the Student Emergency Fund from their rollover account and would attempt to match this amount with college-sponsored crowdfunding sources.
The next Senate meeting on Monday, Dec. 2 will be the last for the fall semester.
