Senate Report 9/23

This week at the University of Rhode Island’s Student Senate meeting, Campus Affairs Committee Chair Emily Gamache announced that a Blue Light Walk will take place Oct. 14.

The purpose of this walk is to check the functionality of the safety phones on campus.

Additionally, Senator Christopher Bove was voted in as speaker of the assembly, commonly referred to as the moderator. Bove, the only nominee, was nominated by Senator Anabelle Gibson. 

Gibson and External Affairs Chair Grace Kiernan were unanimously approved to sit on the Elections Committee after being nominated last week. Elections are scheduled to take place this October.

Senate President Bolu Taiwo announced that she would be in attendance at WaterFire, which URI will be taking part in, this Friday. University President Marc Parlange will also be in attendance. Taiwo invited those in attendance to join her on Friday.

“You should definitely come down if you’re not from Providence, or you’ve never been to WaterFire,” Taiwo said. 

Taiwo also announced a new community service requirement for Senators, saying that each Senator must do a minimum of one community service event per semester. 

Gamache gave the Senate several updates on the Campus Affairs Committee. First, she talked about her and President Taiwo’s efforts to mitigate the ongoing complications with parking and traffic on campus. Gamache received approval to run a booth on campus to gather input from students on the problems. More information on the issue is expected to be released over the next two weeks. 

The Campus Affairs Committee also unveiled an initiative to strengthen ties with URI’s Division of Student Affairs. 

“I have scheduled [from] now until December monthly meetings with Kathy Collins, just to keep communication lines strong between the students and the faculty,” Gamache said.

Student Organizations Committee Chair Katie Siegle formally announced that the committee’s official Instagram, @rhody_soc, is live and asked that everyone interested follow the account.

Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Angelica Tyson revealed plans today for her committee to dedicate October to hosting events and other initiatives to express solidarity with victims of breast cancer and their families during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

Academic Affairs Committee Chair Kyra Shindler announced that a midterm “De-Stressed” mental health event will take place on the Quad on Oct. 14 from 1 to 4 p.m. 

     The Senate will reconvene next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in their chamber at the Memorial Union.