By Leah McCann, Staff Writer
Jan. 24’s Senate meeting included the introduction of a new Vice President, a brief Budget Update, and clarification regarding the Constitutional changes occurring in the Senate.
Officer Reports
President Sydney Quan ’22 announced that the Senate will reintroduce the Alumni Networking Panel. She stated that “so many alumni have been in the Senate and have done wonderful things,” and is excited to begin work with the Panel. She may send out a preference form to survey everyone’s majors and interests, which will help make the experience immersive for everyone.
Quan also announced a warm welcome to Vice President Miranda Zamora ’23, who is “very equipped and capable to deal with all the things we’re about to handle this semester.”
Quan then introduced the new Election Affairs committee, an Ad hoc committee under Zamora’s jurisdiction. The committee’s intention is to work to “make the next election cycle as seamless as possible” and work through any issues encountered on the way.
Zamora’s first report included more details regarding the intentions of the newly established committee. She established that she had seen problems in past elections and wants to fix those in the future, specifically through the Election Affairs Committee (EAC). The EAC, under Zamora’s direction, will utilize social media and campaigning, election education to help the process run better.
Secretary Evelyn Datte ’24 announced a Valentine’s Day fundraiser for the Senate, where members can send paper hearts to one another for a small fee. The Executive Board decided that the money raised will be disbursed to Mosaic Minds upon the conclusion of the event.
On the topic of committee appointments, Datte clarified that the Executive Board will appoint committee members for the semester. She then sent a Committee Assignment Preference Form to attendees. Following concerns brought up by EJ Gill ’23 regarding the Constitutional violation of having all voting members, rather than club representatives within their Affinity Group, select Affinity Group Leaders, the executive board decided to put a hold on the elections for Affinity Group Leaders and conduct them at the following week’s in-person meeting.
Parliamentarian Alexis Jones ’24 clarified the goal of the Constitutional changes that the Senate had been working through the past semester and will be continuing to pursue over the upcoming semester. She established that no new ideas or policies go without being voted on, and each undergoes several stages of approval before officially being incorporated.
Budget Updates
Treasurer Connor Heath ’23 announced that $39,733.98 spent so far by the Budget Management Committee. There were no budget requests at this time.
Committee Announcements
Quan commented that students are not attending Committee meetings, and expressed a desire to ensure that the Committees are more productive and well-attended for the upcoming semester. She stated that she “would love to see if people would be willing to branch into different committees.” Datte then sent out a QR code for members to pick committees to attend for the upcoming semester.
The Senate will next meet on Monday, January 31.
