Student Senate Report 9/23/20

The University of Rhode Island’s Student Senate held a short meeting yesterday and passed one resolution.

The resolution, introduced by Instruments Committee Chair Christopher Bove, called for the Senate to express condolences for the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last Friday at the age of 87.

The bill expressly mentioned Ginsburg’s contributions to women’s rights across the country and the United States Supreme Court, and was passed unanimously.

President Austyn Ramsay also noted that she was informed by URI Vice President for Student Affairs, Kathy Collins, that there will be an increase of police presence patrolling in the Emporium and around campus. The purpose of this increase, Collins said, was to greater enforce mask wearing among students and disperse large crowds.

“I think it’s going to be really great for our campus and keep everyone protected,” Ramsay said.

Director of Treasury, Mitchell Asante, also introduced a bill to grant a contingency grant to the URI Student Senate Administration for a new desk and laptop. The grant will be for $3,800 and will be voted on at next week’s meeting.

Campus Affairs Committee Chair Michael Bentley said that he will be working on getting a survey out to students in isolation to make sure that they are being treated well.

“We’re going to be working on getting a survey out to them to see if they’re being treated up to standard, seeing how everything’s going, so we can get a first-hand look at that instead of just the administration,” Bentley said.

Academic Affairs Chair, Thomas McGrath, also announced that he would be talking with Faculty Senate about their decision to cancel spring break this year, as well as a pass/fail option for this semester.