At the Student Senate meeting Wednesday night, multiple representatives announced their candidacy for President and Vice President. The first representatives to do so were Sam King, the current Finance Chair, and Kelly Watka, the newly elected Campus Chair. King, the hopeful president, spoke first about what traits embody a successful Student Body Vice President. King expressed how her vice president would need to be someone who is not only approachable, but someone who is “well versed in Senate’s policies and procedures, have a high level of professionalism, and be disciplined to unbiasedly moderate meetings.”
King felt that Watka embodied all of those traits, making her the perfect running mate.
Watka followed King’s speech and outlined her goals as a potential Vice President. One of her many goals is to make Senate, as she puts it, “less of a group, and more of a community.”
They wish to focus on public safety, sexual gender and relationship violence, transparency and advocacy between departments and lastly organization and promotion throughout their term if they do get elected. These issues, they say, are issues that they are “individually passionate about.”
After King and Watka came Adriana Wilding and Abdulwhab Alquirtas. Wilding, the Senate Director of Communications, announced her candidacy for President with Alquirtas by her side as her running mate. These two representatives are running on the importance of inclusivity.
“We can improve our relations with not only the URI community, but also with our student organizations,” Wildling said. Along those lines, the running mates also want to improve senator engagement outside of Senate.
Their hopes for Senate also include expanding advertising. In doing so, they will work towards more polling stations and declaration booths.
Alquirtas, an At-Large representative on Senate, made an effort to mention his ability to relate to international students considering he is one as well. He also relates to the athletic student body because of his involvement in the URI Powerlifting Team. He knows that these are advantages to his candidacy, and hopes the electorate will see that too.
After these announcements, URI Flow came into Senate to be recognized as an organization on campus. Their club focuses on the “ultimate human performance.” They feel that this is achieved through tasks such as challenging yourself to something new. The Senate voted to recognize this organization on campus.
Next, the Composting Club came to speak to the representatives in Senate about gaining recognition. They explained how they have already made steps to create a compost outside of the Watson House. Multiple senators made an effort to share how much they support this organization and their dedication to helping the environment. Later, the Senate voted to recognize this organization.