UPDATED: 1/14 7:42 p.m.
The Senate heard requests for recognition and chartering from five clubs. Model United Nations, the Men of Color Alliance, Deis 3D and Students for Fair Housing were all unanimously recognized and chartered by acclamation vote. The Board Game Club was also recognized and chartered by acclamation vote, although Senator Joseph Coles ‘22, chair of the Club Support Committee, abstained from both votes.
The Senate chose Senator Scott Halper ‘20 to be the next Executive Senator. The two candidates were Halper and Senator Krupa Sourigian ‘23. Both candidates were questioned about whether or not they intended to attend all Senate and Executive Board meetings; Halper said that he would likely miss one Senate meeting for mock trial, but that he expected to attend all Executive Board meetings, while Sourigian said that she did not anticipate missing any Senate meetings, but that she did not intend to attend any Executive Board meetings. The Brandeis Hoot was unable to obtain the vote tallies.
Vice President Kendall Chapman ‘22 told all of the senators to be present for the State of the Union on Dec. 10, adding that attendance was mandatory, and that “this is the only time all semester that we’re fully transparent.”
Coles announced that organizations which are “auditions dependant” will now be able to receive Club Support Committee funding.
Senator Allison Liebowitz ’22 announced a logistics issue with the t-shirts for the Midnight Buffet had been resolved, and that more candy had been acquired for the event.
Senator Trevor Filseth ’20 announced that he had received permission from the Department of Community Living to see how many people were interested in removing the locks from the bathrooms in East Quad, and thus that he would be sending out a petition.
The Senate spent approximately 45 minutes in an Executive Session deciding how many excused and unexcused absences would be appropriate for senators next semester. After the session, Chapman announced that rather than allow unlimited excused absences, she would excuse a maximum of three absences. Those who objected argued that this was too harsh, and that they ought to be allowed more absences. In addition to objections, senators questioned what would or would not constitute cause for an excusable absence.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to the Department of Community Living as “Department of Campus Life.”
