At their ninth meeting on Nov. 1, members of the 52nd student senate filled several committee seats and updated each other on their progress on several objectives that were listed on their list of goals that they drafted at their eight meeting.
When the student senate met on Oct. 25 they created a set of goals they hoped to achieve by the end of this semester. Some of the goals on that list that were discussed included modifying the current meal plan and Student Union (SU) hours, placing printers in the SU and increasing the exposure of student artwork on campus. Members of the senate were divided up into committees for each objective. In all, there were a little over 10 goals on that list.
SA Executive Vice President Eve Stern and Sen. Richard Jean-Louis are on the committee responsible for trying to modify the current meal plan. Stern explained that Campus Auxiliary Services (CAS) cannot alter the meal plan mid-semester.
“It’s not something that they can just like change next week because I think there are some contractual issues,” said Stern. “But it’s something that I brought up [at the CAS Board meeting] and I was saying that students are very concerned.”
The next goal discussed was one spearheaded by Sen. Matt Greenberg to increase exposure of student artwork on campus. Mike Patterson, SA’s faculty advisor and the director of Student Activities and Union Services, said that he’s been speaking with Mary Hafeli, the dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts, about plans to have students artwork displayed in the Student Union “on the rotating basis.”
Adding printers in the SU was the next goal on the list. This goal, spearheaded by Sen. Jonathan Espinosa, would make it more convenient for students to print out papers there instead of walking over to the library or computer labs. Espinosa asked the senate for recommendations about who to speak to about this goal. Coakley suggested that he speak to Disbursing Agent for the Student Association Linda Lendvay, Council of Organizations Chair Shayna Bentley and Patterson.
Another goal discussed at the senate meeting was extending the SU hours, spearheaded by both Espinosa and Sen. Manny Tejada. They want to open it past midnight. Espinosa said they plan on creating a survey asking students how many hours they spend in the SU and what they would like to see open past midnight. Tejada does undertand that there are financial constraints of extending SU hours.
Sen. Matt Clarkson pointed out that Espinosa and Tejada’s ideas tie together a couple of the goals listed on the senate list such as library hours, placing a printer in the SU and keeping the SU open past midnight.
“I was thinking if we could get a printer in the [SU], and keep it open later maybe it would sort of alleviate some of the stress of library hours not going so late,” said Clarkson. “So that kids who just need to use the computer can come to the [SU] at night and type up and print [their paper].”
Patterson recommended that the student senate speak to him because he had answers to a lot of things they talked about or debated regarding the goals pertaining to the SU.
In addition to discussing some of their goals, the senate also discussed the possibility of giving senators monetary incentives. According to Coakley, the issue is really about the reallocation of Student Association funds.
With a vote of 16-2, the legislative body created a committee to reach out to other schools and figure out how they established pay for senate members.
One School of Science and Engineering seat was filled on the Academic Senate by Clarkson and one School of Science and Engineering seat was filled on the Budget, Goals and Plans Committee by newcomer Sen. Dhruv Shah.
The next senate meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 9 in SU 418.