Senate discusses updates and announcements for the spring term

The convened Senate. (Photo By Ali Meizel, '23.)

By Paige Comeau ’26 

Staff Writer 

On Jan. 31, the Student Government Association opened its first senate meeting of the semester with a greeting to all the members, welcoming them back after the break. Following the reading of the agenda and the land acknowledgment, the meeting began with E-board updates.

First, it was announced that during the spring semester, SGA Senate will be hosting several town halls in addition to their regular meetings. The guests and dates of these meetings are to be determined. 

Second, SGA President, Maille Romulus ’24,  discussed the binder drive, which occurred on the evening of Jan. 27. In total, the SGA was able to order 33 out of the 70 binders requested. The deficit was due to several binders being out of stock, but the binders that were not able to be ordered will be ordered with a slight delay. The first 33 binders should be arriving soon. 

Senate closed E-board updates by discussing the latest issue of the Newsflush, to be distributed to the hall senators. Newsflushes should be posted in all residence hall bathrooms. 

The senate then moved onto the open floor, where senators and representatives were welcomed to introduce themselves and their organizations or halls and to give announcements or bring up concerns. 

During the updates and announcements portion of the open floor, several students promoted upcoming events and deadlines. A member of the board of the class of 2025 brought up their upcoming Valentine’s Masquerade Ball, to be held on Feb. 10 in the Great Room from 8-11 p.m. A member of the class board for 2024 announced that they were still looking for actors and crew for J-Show. The link to sign up was sent out in an email on Feb. 1. Finally, an E-board member speaking on behalf of Residential Life reminded everyone that RA and orientation leader applications are due Feb. 12. More information about those applications can be found on Embark or on the TVs around the Student Center. 

Following announcements and updates, the session opened for questions and concerns. The senator for MacGregor asked if there is any way to get a printer installed in MacGregor or Ham halls. When asked why they found this necessary, they elaborated that because MacGregor and Ham are so out of the way from the rest of campus, it can be an issue of accessibility for some students. They believed that it might be beneficial because of the time and distance it takes to reach the nearest printer. 

Next, a representative for the Jewish Student Union brought up the issue of Narcan for RAs, something that had previously been discussed in the fall semester. They asked if there were any updates, and an E-board member confirmed that there were not, but that the issue had been brought up to ResLife and was possibly being discussed. The E-board member also stated that there might be other people, such as a member of ResLife, who might know more. 

The Mead Hall senator raised a concern about the new dining hall setup. Since the L’Chaim-Kosher station still serves with paper plates, she wondered if the dining hall should still have garbage and recycling bins out for students to use to avoid extra work for the dining staff. A dining manager who attended the meeting spoke up and stated that they do have bins inside the kitchen, and that having them inside not only saves workers from completing the extra work of moving them from outside the kitchen to inside but also creates a safer environment for students, as no one is liable to slip on spilled food. 

Finally, another senate representative asked if there was a possibility of changing the COVID-19 bathroom schedule, as she had had COVID-19 a few weeks ago, and found the schedule to be problematic, especially because there was no time during the middle of the night. 

To close, senators and representatives began work on their commissions. The commissions are academic outreach, accessibility, COVID-19 health and safety, dining, environmental sustainability, international student outreach, mental health outreach and SGA anti-racism, each ranging from three to five members. To complete their work, members were asked to touch base with their commission and review past notes so that everyone was on the same page about the issues and topics that were being discussed. If they had not yet emailed a point of contact for their concern they were asked to do so. 

Additionally, commissions were to draft a petition or begin drafting a petition. Petition samples were available for reference. Once the petitions had been drafted, each commission showed it to their E-board member. Following this activity, the meeting concluded.