Student Senate’s first general assembly meeting of the year was Monday, where newly elected senators were officially sworn in and introduced to the basics of student governance.
“I thought the GA meeting was a lot of fun,” freshman accounting major Anna LaHood said. “It was a lot more laid back than I thought it would be.”
LaHood is one of the representatives of Williams Hall.
The first order of business was introducing the new senators to the student body officers and the executive cabinet, explaining their functions, jurisdictions and office hours.
“The executive cabinet is pretty intimidating,” LaHood said. “They’re all upperclassmen, and they’ve done this before and they know what they’re doing. And I’m just here like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing,’ but hopefully I’ll be there someday.”
The meeting then moved into resolutions dealing with the closure of Wyckoff Hall, which is empty due to low enrollment.
“The resolution declared that when a hall is shut down that hall’s senate seats are frozen until it’s reopened,” freshman chemistry major Sharron Clark said. “There were some dissenting opinions about the resolution, but I think that was just because they wanted the language of the resolution clarified.”
All but one of the senators voted to pass the resolution.
The meeting concluded with a brief PowerPoint about Robert’s Rules of Order, which is a set of guidelines for group discussion and decision-making. It was published in 1876 and is loosely based on the United States House of Representatives methodology.
“Before the meeting I had never heard of Robert’s Rules,” Clark, a representative for University Hall, said. “I intend to look into it further, but it’s pretty cool that we’re drawing from a governing text that’s like 200 years old.”
Clark said she was really excited for her senator term.
“I’m all about changing the world and the Student Senate makes changes to campus, so I think it’s a good start,” Clark said. “I was involved in my high school’s student council, and I thought Senate was going to be something like that but it’s not. It’s more like the U.S Congress and that’s really cool.”
LaHood had slightly different reasons for running for senate.
“I wasn’t really involved in my high school, so when I saw Student Senate at the activities fair I thought it would be an opportunity to change that and be involved in my new college,” LaHood said. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I’ll do a lot of good work for my constituents.”
