University of Rhode Island Student Senate recognized Women’s Republic, Bridge USA and Chabad URI as official organizations at their weekly meeting.
Women’s Republic, an online feminist magazine, was represented by their secretary, and came to elaborate on the online magazine. She said that they focus on spreading information regarding feminist issues, as well as advocacy through online articles. She also ensured that anybody, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, can join this organization.
As of right now, the Women’s Republic has no plans to collaborate with the Women’s Center or the Gender and Sexuality Center, although they are open to the idea. The secretary discussed “Drive for Dignity,” an event that would be used to collect sanitary products and donate them to local women’s shelters. Senate unanimously voted yes to officially recognize the Women’s Republic as a funded organization on campus.
Bridge USA is a national organization that was founded in 2016 with the mission to depolarize the political climate on college campuses and elsewhere, according to the organization’s president. The group seeks out people from across the ideological spectrum to engage in rational discourse. They stress that Bridge USA is a very open, honest platform to communicate.
As of now, the URI branch of the organization has roughly 21 members, including the Presidents from both URI College Democrats and URI College Republicans. As well as politics, they also focus on hotly debated issues on campus. This organization wished to be funded, however, Senate agreed the group was too new for funding. There was a unanimous ‘yes’ to recognize Bridge USA as an unfunded student organization.
The last bill on the agenda was to possibly give recognition to Chabad URI as an unfunded student organization. The President came to relay that they are a culturally Jewish group but they are open to all sexualities and genders. Chabad is educational and social, and they participate in lots of community service. Senate voted to recognize Chabad URI.
In other news, Senate announced they will begin their monthly diversity event, a partnership with the Multicultural Student Services Center to replace Diversity Week, on Oct. 16, at 5 p.m., in room 308 of the Memorial Union. The event will be focused on disabilities.
Lastly, there is a Sexual Assault Forum being held at 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27 in the Memorial Union, sponsored by the Graduate Assistants United. It is a rally to speak out about sexual assault on campus, and to spread awareness that there are resources on campus for anyone who experiences sexual assault or any other abuse. Students are encouraged to reach out to Health Services, Campus Police and other safe places on campus.