At the Executive Board meeting, the board discussed having a second racial minority senator. Senator Joseph Coles ’22, who was in attendance at the Executive Board meeting, said that the official complaint will come out in a public report. The Senate entered an executive session to decide whether to recommend if the special election should take place during this semester or next semester. Coles read a resolution which said that the Union was in violation of its own constitution by not holding a special election to fill the position within the required 15-day period. The Senate voted by roll call to pass a resolution recommending that the election be held as soon as possible. It passed unanimously.
Coles said that at the Executive Board meeting, they also discussed providing coffee for “take your professor to coffee” and the possibility of hosting sledding events on snow days. They also reported that 260 people used the Lyft subsidy which allowed students to get a $5 discount on rides between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and that it will be extended into next semester.
Coles also said that surveys showed that 72 percent of clubs don’t agree with the consultant bylaw and so he will be hosting office hours to explain it.
The Rules Committee will be working with Senator for Charles River Apartments Oliver Price ’20 to word an amendment that would allow secured club leaders to be paid. The Social Justice Committee will be putting up display cases in the library with books by authors of color. Senator-at-Large Nancy Zhai ’22 said that the Senate Dining Committee is fixing Lower Usdan stations, so that it is consistent with the menu online, and they will be drafting a request for proposals (RFP) next week and vendors will be able to send proposals in early December.
The Health and Safety Committee will be putting posters in first-year quads with information about the permanent effects of alcohol consumption. Senator Topaz Fragoso ’22 asked if the posters could be put up in other quads as well, and Hoffman said that it would depend on how much funding they get. He also said that more people have reported broken gym equipment and that it has “lawsuit potential.”
Senator Trevor Filseth ’20 said that people have been putting in work orders and DCL has been responding to the wrong rooms. East beautification funding just got approved, according to Senator for East Quad Leah Fernandez ’22. Senator Scott Halper ‘20 said that President Simran Tatuskar ’21 apologized to former Vice President Guillermo Caballero ’20 and Executive Senator Jake Rong ’21, the final steps in the sanction against her following her judicial hearing.
Senator for North Quad Krupa Sourirajan ’23 proposed a Senate Money Resolution (SMR) to supply Polaris with cooking tools. Filseth asked if she is worried about the tools getting stolen, and Sourirajan said that there are already some supplies there now. Proposals are typically voted on the week after they’re proposed, and the Senate voted to suspend the rules so that Souriajan could talk to DCL about the supplies and potentially have them available before Thanksgiving.
