Following the excitement of a successful election, 12 new senators were sworn into the Student Senate on Monday, during the first meeting for the 2009-10 school year.
Alan Galsky, the vice president of student affairs, began the meeting by swearing in the new senators. Galsky offered words of enthusiasm for the all of the senators.
“Look at this as a shared partnership to make Bradley University better,” he said. “Because of the Student Senate we have seen more change here in the past few years than we have seen in the past few decades.”
This year, senate is undergoing several changes and a complete reconstruction. Student Body President Kyle Malinowski said he hopes to introduce as many as 12 new chairs to the assembly over the next year. These new chairs will be used to represent each of the individual colleges here on campus as well as student organizations.
“We are going through a restructuring process and senate will be experiencing things it never has before,” Malinowski said. “It really is a cool time to be on senate.”
Along with the restructuring, senate will continue to make positive changes to help better Bradley’s campus.
The Technology Services and Affairs Committee reported that AT&T upgrades should be completed by next year. The committee is also finding a way to bring wireless Internet and wireless printing to the whole campus.
Wassim Elhouar of the Diversity Affairs Committee said he hopes to host a multi-cultural Late Night BU along with a Muslim and Jewish dinner to help encourage respect and understanding of different cultures.
In addition, the Academic Affairs Committee would like to bring a pop culture section to the student library and Jimmy Lombard of the Campus Affairs Committee said he intends to make Bradley’s campus a little greener.
“I want to work on things to be more environmentally friendly on campus,” he said.
Heitz Hall Senator Wade Hatler said he is looking forward to serving as a senator.
“I want to have a good time meeting new people and shape a better future for the university,” Hatler said.
There is still an opportunity for more students to get involved in senate. After the election, senate was left with three open chairs that still need to be filled. Chairs are open for representatives of the singles complex, the Student Apartment Complex and the St. James Apartment Complex. Although it is preferred the representatives be residents of the complexes, it is not necessary.
Senate is accepting petitions for all of the open chairs, which can be downloaded from senate’s Web site, bradley.edu/campusorg/senate.com.
“I know the power that dedicated students can have and change the campus,” said Jordan Ticaric, Student Senate graduate student advisor. “As long as we work together and work hard we can get anything done.”
