This week from the Senate chambers: unfinished business, a meeting with dining services and reminders of COVID-19 guidelines.
The session began with unfinished business from the previous meeting, as the Senate passed a bill calling for an amendment to the Student Senate Finance Handbook to be added and enacted beginning in the fiscal year of 2022-2023.
The bill will give recognition and funding to some clubs that had been defunded and derecognized.
Dining Services Director Pierre St-Germain was in attendance, and was invited by Assembly Speaker Christopher Bove.
St-Germain announced that the Daily Grind in the library will still not be open for another week due to COVID-19 concerns.
“Once they left the 24 hour room where the Daily Grind is, they would go into the library, they were not wearing a mask as they had become sort of relaxed about it since they had something to eat or drink from the Daily Grind,” St-Germain said.
According to him, this led to issues with the library staff. While there were some calls to have the Daily Grind closed for the semester, Dining Services will only shut it down for the next week due to the inconvenience for both workers and students.
Senator Jose Montoya asked what will happen to the workers of the coffee shop, and St-Germain responded that they will be able to work at other places that Dining Services runs in the meantime.
Senator Lulu Alryati expressed concern of the lack of kosher and halal meats provided by the campus, a concern also expressed by Cultural Affairs Chair Angelica Tyson.
“If we make the students feel like their religion is a punishment, it does no good, and I try to work on one thing as I see it, and that would be the next thing,” St-Germain said.
Senator Chris Rider asked St-Germain why people must be masked in the library, but are allowed to be without them in the dining halls. St-Germain responded that dining services are working within the school and CDC guidelines and do have rules such as masks must be worn in lines in the dining hall.
St-Germain also mentioned that Dining Services is currently understaffed, as many people who could be interested in the dining jobs are living near Providence and have difficulty getting to the campus.
In addition, changes to grab-and-go swipes were announced. Dining services will go back to “dining bucks,” a program used a decade ago, according to St-Germain. The program will give students a certain amount of money a week, and that money will be worth twice as much as its normal value, with two dollars being equivalent to one dollar outside of the campus.
The new service will not fully replace RAM account, which will still be used at external vendors, such as the businesses in the Emporium.
In addition, the senate added two new members, Sean Gibbs and Sophia Buobo. Bove said that both senators are already in committees.
The senate also passed a resolution honoring healthcare professionals on campus, who Bove said are overworked and understaffed.
The senate will meet again on Wednesday, Feb. 9.