Student Senate held a short meeting yesterday evening.The meeting was sparsely attended as no cabinet members attended, barely meeting the attendance threshold for the meeting to be considered valid.
Elections for Student Senate will be held online using CampusLabs next week on Oct. 15 and 16.
Senator John Bagley said that he would be checking to make sure that the technology, which was also used in last year’s election, would work smoothly and avoid problems that popped up last year.
“I’m going to talk to [Student Senate Advisor Carl Stiles] this week and we’re hopefully going to run a small internal test before the actual election so that there’s no hitches in the plan,” Bagley said.
Instruments Chair Christopher Bove also said that some positions do not have anyone running for them.
“Unfortunately, not all of our seats are going to be filled unless there’s write-in candidates,” Bove said, “but I’m happy with the participation that we see from the student body and I look forward to next week’s election.”
Constituent Marland Chang also inquired about Vice President Collins’ request during last week’s meeting to redirect $50,000 from the Student Senate budget in order to hold events, arguing that colder weather would allow for less on-campus events.
Bagley responded that while the Senate was considering it, nothing had been brought before the Senate in regards to it.
“I know that some of us are talking to clubs to set up events as the alternative to that, but nothing has come through and there’s no concrete plan,” Bagley said.
Moderator Annabel Cimbal said that bills were currently in consideration with Director of Treasury Mitchell Asante, but nothing had officially been brought to the Senate floor yet.
The Instruments Committee also introduced a bill to amend the Student Senate Constitution. Bove, the bill’s handler, said that the amendment was intended to “streamline” the process of confirming judges and members of the Cabinet.
“[The] Instruments Committee feels that it should be a confirmation instead of an election, so it will move a lot more efficiently and that people won’t write in people that haven’t been nominated by the President,” Bove said.
The bill will be voted on in three weeks.