Illustration by: Maddie Bataille | Photo Editor
This week from the Student Senate: The 2022-2023 Student Senate panel met for their final meeting in their respective positions and swore in the new leaders of the 2023-2024 Senate.
New Senators for the upcoming year were sworn into office after current and former members gave their final speeches. Former President Grace Kiernan swore in the new President Ramez Rizk and former Vice President Emily Gamache swore in new Vice President Jonah Steinweh-Adler.
As they “passed the gavel,” each member of the Senate got the opportunity to speak about their memories and how the Student Senate had impacted them.
“Never be so kind, you forget to be clever, never be so clever, you forget to be kind. Never be so polite, you forget your power, and never wield such power that you forget to be polite,” said Christopher Bove, former Speaker of the Assembly. Quoted from Taylor Swift, he said how important this role has been for his college career.
The Senate website was updated to refresh the page and give it a new look and the Senate also passed an amendment for the University of Rhode Island’s Senate bylaws with full approval.
A bill was passed to acknowledge “Beta Gamma RATatouille” as a Senate-recognized organization. There was debate in this decision, with the Senate voting 14 approvals, 8 disapprovals and 5 abstentions. The organization watches and reviews films and videos created by its own members, and said they occasionally screen clips of the 2007 film “Ratatouille.”
A bill was called to approve the certifications of the new Senate elections and positions and ballot referendum. The bill was passed with full approval.
A blue light walk hosted last week proved to be a success in identifying obscured lights, according to Cameron Chadronet, the Senator for Campus Affairs. During their event, 17 out of 36 lights had issues with their operations and actions are being taken to fix the lights.
The Senate also did superlatives during the meeting this week, including Senate Mom and Dad, most likely to forget something in the report and most likely to sit on the U.S. Senate.
The Student Senate will meet again Wednesday, April 12 with the new Senate taking over for the first time.
Multiple Senators will be graduating in the spring of 2023, and said their final goodbyes during their meeting. Along with Chris Bove and Grace Kiernan, other Senators graduating include Ava Piacentini, James Scotti, Jose Montoya, Grace Summerson, Peyton Thiel, Ella Stahl and Rosie Bailey, according to a former URI Cigar article.