Student Senate Report 10/20/2021

From the Senate Chambers this week: Vice President of Administration and Finance Abigail Rider presented an update on campus parking, a senator was reinstated after the Assembly unanimously passed his appeal and the official senate elections were postponed indefinitely.

Rider delivered the response of Transportation and Parking, which she oversees, to an action bill passed by Student Senate. Rider said with the 1.9 spots to one commuter ratio, the Plains Road Parking Lot has yet to reach full capacity this semester.  

“Plains Road Lot, which is the lot nobody wants to park in, but it is a commuter lot, would never [get] more than 80 percent full,” she said. “I just wanted to start out to let you know that we do have enough parking.” 

Rider also encouraged the Student Senate to make “parking hacks at the University” TikTok videos to help the situation. `

In the presentation, Rider admitted that a constraint arises on parking availability under the circumstance that Christ the King Church reclaims their 176 parking slots, which they normally permit URI students to use, to provide parking for funerals. 

Rider highlighted that URI is presently negotiating with RIPTA to reinstate the U-PASS program as it continues its plans to fully digitize bus fares. The $10,000 lottery of funds to provide free RIPTA passes, half of which the Senate donated from their reserve account, will be left to the student senate to appropriate for the accreditation of RIPTA accounts. 

Transportation and Parking’s response also included plans for a new Plains Road South parking lot. It will provide 415 new parking spaces and will be fitted with solar panels that are expected to generate a substantial amount of electricity for the University. 

Speaker of the Assembly Christopher Bove announced today that becauseVice President Madyson Ramsay has a concussion, the official Student Senate elections are postponed indefinitely. 

A special order was issued to reinstate Senator Vincent Aidala, representing the College of Engineering, after he was expelled for his absence during general assembly meetings. The order passed with no dissenting votes and one abstention. The expulsion was mandated due to senate bylaws for absenteeism. 

After Aidala was expelled, he tried to appeal his expulsion on the premise that his absences were excused because of a class scheduling conflict, but the bylaw also provides that a Senator cannot appeal expulsion for absence for any reason if it exceeds a certain threshold. Christopher Bove read Aidala’s letter to the Senate, wherein he explained the circumstances of his absences. 

During the debate of the order, many Senators defended Aidala, who said it is possible to be an involved, beneficial senator while not attending the general assembly meetings. 

“I can speak from experience and from knowing [Aidala] for these last few weeks that he is very active in our committee and he does his part, and for that, I think that he deserves to have his position reinstated on Senate,” Academic Affairs Committee Chair Kyra Shindler said.

“Our title is ‘Student Senate’, and ‘student’ has to come first,” Senator Grace Kiernan added.

The Senate unanimously passed three new bills recognizing new clubs as well. These included the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the Geology Club and “iGNiTE @ URI.”

The National Society of Collegiate Scholars aims to provide more opportunities to high achieving students. “iGNiTE @ URI,” a club that aims to “inspire and encourage womxn of all political affiliations to come together to learn about one and others viewpoints and build skills, knowledge and networks needed to be successful citizens, collaborators and office-elects post-graduation,” according to their mission statement.

The Student Senate will reconvene in their chambers on Oct. 27.