Student Senate Report 04/06/2022

This week in the Student Senate: seniors in the Senate bid farewell to other senators during their last meeting, as well as the swearing-in of the new president and vice president of the Student Senate. 

The meeting was split into two separate sections, which happened consecutively. The first meeting involved the reports of the standing committees, Director of Communications Leila Cox announced Senate Superlatives and special orders were discussed. The second meeting involved the nominations for chair committees and directors for the Senate. 

Before the special orders, a few bills were passed by the Senate. The bills, which included amendments to the University of Rhode Island Student Senate bylaws, the confirmation and certification of the spring 2022 election results and the acknowledgment of Health Humanities as a Senate-recognized organization, were all passed. Additionally, a resolution honoring the Student Senate’s graduating senators for their outstanding services to the University was passed.

Then, the Senate moved to special orders, where all the senators got the chance to hold the gavel and give a speech to the outgoing seniors. Speaker Christopher Bove was the first to speak.

After Bove spoke, all the senators at the table went around holding the gavel and giving their heartwarming speeches and thanking their fellow senators for all their hard work. Once all of the senators were finished with their speeches, Speaker Bove then invited President-elect Grace Kiernan.

After being successfully sworn in as the new President of the Student Senate, Grace Kiernan invited Vice President-elect Emily Gamache up to the podium. She was then sworn in as the new Vice President.

After this, the first meeting was adjourned, and a group photo was taken of all the senators before the seniors left. After the photo was taken, a second meeting began with senators in new positions and incoming senators.

Vice President Gamache started this meeting and she moved to give President Kiernan the floor to swear in all the new senators at the same time. Once that was done, the nominations for new chair committee members and directors were announced by President Kiernan.

The nominations included Christopher Bove for speaker of the assembly, Peyton Theil for the director of communications, Chris Hoover for the director of treasury, Willy Njeru for the director of information, Jack Eustis for the director of operations, Anabelle Gibson for the chair of Student Organizations Committee, Grace Summerson for the ​​chair of Academic Affairs Committee, Ethan Bose and James Scotti for the chair of External Affairs Committee, Angelica Tyson for the chair of Cultural Affairs Committee and Cameron Chadronet for the chair of Campus Affairs Committee.

The senators will vote on the nominations at the next Senate meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, April 13.