Vice President Kendal Chapman ’22 said that Senator for International Students Shuorui “Capo” Wang ’22 and Senator for the Class of 2021 Sissel Tan ’21 were removed from the Senate due to a lack of attendance. She added that they had been warned.
The Senate passed a resolution proposed by Senator Joseph Coles ’22 which modified bylaws pertaining to chartered clubs. The resolution required chartered clubs to maintain at least 10 active members or risk losing their chartered status, with “active member” being defined by the constitution of the club concerned. The resolution also rescinded restrictions which prevented clubs with exclusive membership from being chartered. Coles said that this was to allow clubs with auditions to be chartered. Executive Senator Scott Halper ’20 raised concerns that this could open up a loophole for other clubs to exclude people on less meritorious basises. This resolution was voted on by affirmation and passed unanimously. Coles said that it would come into effect next semester, and that all clubs would be notified.
The Senate voted to confirm Bishal Baral ’20 as director of technology and Joyce Huang ’22 as the Student Union Diversity and Inclusion Officer. Huang previously held the Racial Minority Senator title. The Senate voted by affirmation, and both votes were unanimous, although Senator Trevor Filseth ’20 was out of the room for both votes. The Senate intended to vote on Ilannysh Rodgriguez ’23 as the Director of Outreach, but Rodgriguez was not present, so the vote was postponed to the next meeting.
Senator Oliver Price ’20 introduced an amendment which would allow excess sustainability funds to be used to pay students to help with managing waste during move out, to ensure that quality items are donated and that other waste is properly disposed of. Price said that the funds he proposes to use for this purpose are never exhausted in a typical year. Coles mentioned that he had concerns about this plan, but declined to mention them at the time.
Chapman said that the resolution previously passed by the Senate allocating funding for snacks was “not going through” due to Executive Board policies related to providing funding for weekly meetings. She told the Senate that the purpose of the funding was not to provide snacks for senators, but to make meetings “more of an event” and encourage students to attend.
Student Union President Simran Tatuskar ’21 presented an executive officer report in which she explained what she had been working on. Tatuskar mentioned an effort by the Prevention, Advocacy & Resource Center (PARC) to distribute SipChip devices which can detect drugs in drinks, attempts to establish a bike rental program on campus, Lyft subsidies and moving the Market Basket shuttle to weekends. Halper asked why Tatuskar was doing all of this on her own, and why the Senate was not involved. Tatuskar responded that she believed the SipChip issue to be too urgent to wait on, and that the Lyft subsidies were part of her campaign promises, and so she wanted to deal with them on her own. Chapman added that the work ought to be spread around more, and that committees should be consulted and involved more.
Head of Health and Safety Committee Leah Fernandez ’22 said that efforts are underway in coordination with Student Sexuality Information Service (SSIS) to ensure that new condoms will be bought to be distributed across campus when the current supply runs out. Chapman asked whether the condoms or the dispensers would have a Student Union logo, saying that the Student Union had had “problems with credit” in the past. Several senators raised questions about whether menstrual products would be restocked in the women’s bathrooms on campus, and whether they will be put in gender neutral bathrooms. According to Fernandez, these questions will be addressed in a future meeting of the committee.
