Top take
- On Friday, the All-Campus Judicial Council will hear a public appeal: “Wegman, Burkey, Markakis, and Nadasi v. SA Legislative Branch and Student Organization Administration & Review Committee.” The appeal will be heard at 3:30 p.m. Friday in Goergen 109.
- Sophomore Senator Andres Ollarvez asked if senators will have to be present at the appeal.
ACJC Chief Justice Alec Girten responded that who is to be present at the appeal on behalf of defendant is up to branch leadership. - Speaker of the Senate Lindsay Wrobel said that she and Administration and Review Committee Chair Alex Guererro would be present. She added that no one else was required to be present at the appeal.
- Girten confirmed that the three newly-appointed ACJC justices would not be sitting on the case.
Other bits
- Sophomore Senator Beatriz Gil brought up legislation from the administration of former SA President Grant Dever regarding swipe access system and special interest housing.
Guerrero explained that it was passed last year to give card access to a specific location. SA President Vito Martino explained that Facilities and Services is planning to handle the situation this summer, when they deal with lost and broken locks at Towers. - Sophomore Senator Gabriella Lipschitz asked if the servicing also covers sorority floors.
Appropriations Committee Chair Nicholas Mavrelis said there is no constitution currently on the ballot. He announced that he is working with several senators to draft legislation on a formal process for putting referenda on ballots. - Freshman Senator Kamel Awayda added that there are several opportunities to be involved in writing the legislation, including sessions on Thursday and Friday.
- Gil said that her International Students Involvement Project is progressing. She has obtained information from and met three times with administrators. She has one more meeting scheduled with the administration.
- Gil is also reaching out to several student organizations and currently has the endorsement of five organizations.
- Lipschitz had a meeting to discuss a process to protect undocumented students. She offered people to join in and support the work.
- Freshman Senator Leif Johansen said that his sustainability coalition is meeting on April 23.
Sophomore Senator Nick Foti announced that the plaque was officially ordered for the UR A Star Award.He added that there is an event Friday for the UR Stars in Service Campaign. Deputy Chair of the Campus Services Committee Alexandria Brown, a junior who is also a member of the Campus Times Editorial Board, added that a student-made documentary will be screened at the event. - The Academics Committee’s Women in Science and Engineering report is nearly complete, but still requires some editing. Academics Committee Chair and junior Senator Andria Rabenold asked senators to read it over closely so everyone has an understanding of the report. She added that she is reaching out to student organizations to get support for the report.
- The Administration and Review Committee extended the preliminary status for Club Table Tennis to allow for time to get the average number of members at meetings in the group to at least 12.
- The committee is updating its policy and procedure manuals.
- The committee is considering end-of-the-year hiring since there are currently nine applicants left outstanding.
- Campus Services is writing a report on accessibility that it hopes to present next week. The committee is also writing a report on multilingual maps. It is looking to get more survey results.
- The SA Presidential debate was last Wednesday.
- Voting opened Monday at 10 a.m. and closed Wednesday at 10 p.m.
- Edits were made to “Bill Regarding Speaker Selections.”
- Gil asked about the drama happening with elections. Former Senator Nicholas Pierce, who is running the elections, said he may not be able to comment on everything. Johansen proposed allocating funds to promote information regarding elections to clear up misunderstandings and lack of clarity surrounding how voting works.
- The Student Life Committee is setting up a meeting with administration on UR A Star.
Senate’s appropriations committee is hearing 10 appeals Tuesday. It has heard several other appeals regarding budgeting. - ACJC updated its policies. The changes include the following: associate justices not official members until after training and senate approval, clarifications on updating document, appeals to be heard in academic year must be filed four weeks before year ends.
- Awayda reminded Chief Justice Girten to upload the new policies to Google Drive.
- The executive branch announced that the Welliora campaign began Monday (4/17). Part of the tunnel is painted, and buttons are being distributed. An awareness wall in Douglass has also gone up. A large number of buttons have already been taken.
- Six-thousand pads and tampons were used in first week of 5K Challenge implementation. Numbers for week two to be determined Tuesday morning.
- SA executives are meeting with Dean Lennie and Dean Feldman on Wednesday to discuss tuition transparency.
- A mayoral town hall is scheduled for April 29. Rochester mayoral candidates will be present to take questions.
- SA recognition was granted to Club Field Hockey. This follows approval from Club Sports Council. Club Field Hockey will be a co-ed team.
- SA Recognition was granted to the French Culture Club. Activities include one-on-one tutoring and conversation hours. It will additionally host events such as movie discussions and French humor showings.
- Senate picked up the “Bill Regarding Speaker Selections” from the table. Mavrelis asked when speaker selections are happening. Wrobel confirmed that it would be on April 24. She said that if bill passes, the next senate will vote on the next speaker, but if it doesn’t pass, the current senate will vote on the next speaker. Junior Senator Joshua Pachter noted that there was no mention of executive session in order to leave the use of executive sessions for speaker selections up to the interpretation of the Senate. SA passed the “Bill Regarding Speaker Selections.”
- Wrobel explained that she is likely to be elected to Senate, since the race for senior-class representatives is “uncontested” and all she needs to be elected is 50 votes. Noted that as a result, it is her last meeting, and Deputy Speaker Marco Ramos will be running speaker selections next week. Wrobel thanked the Senate for everything over the course of the year.
After overwhelming support, senior Senator Matthews was selected to give the final motion to adjourn for the current senate.
Next meeting
Monday, April 24 in the Gowen Room
