Ashna Kelkar ’24 was appointed as the new executive senator of the Student Union, replacing Joseph Coles ’22 who held the title last semester.
The senate also welcomed the new North Quad senator, James Brosgol ’25, and the new mid-year senator, Sherry Tao ’25. Both senators spoke on how they are interested in discussing sustainability-related issues around campus.
A few clubs have been chartered since the senate met before the midterm break. Emily McKerrow ’24 attended the senate meeting to represent the Crafts and Conversations club. After a short presentation on the workings of the club and a request for three hundred dollars for supplies, the club was chartered.
Abdukadir Ibrahim ’22 and Nai Qashou ’22 from the Network of Arab students were also able to charter the club after gaining a majority vote from the senate. No student representatives from the Brandeis Haircutting club attended the meeting so the club did not get chartered this week.
The two co-heads of treasury Amanda Shneider ’22 and Josh Hopen ’23 joined the meeting to share a presentation, discussing the student union’s projected budgets for the upcoming year. The student senate budget totals at 21 thousand dollars to cover the cost of events like the Midnight Buffet and other social events. Midnight Buffet costs around $7,500 per semester and 15 thousand dollars for the academic year.
The E-board budget is four thousand dollars to fund e-board sponsored initiatives like the take your professor to lunch program (one thousand per semester) and the student union retreat.
The treasury budget will be $1,500, to cover treasury training costs and team bonding initiatives. The co-sponsorship budget will be $5 thousand dollars to cover campus-wide events like Deis Impact, Kindness Day and Indigenous People’s Day. The combined projects’ budget amounts to $20,000 to cover future plans like the commuter rail subsidy, Joseph’s Transportation Shuttle to and from the Airport and the Lyft subsidy, where students get discounted Lyft rides through a partnership with the university.
Promotional events/supplies will total three thousand dollars, A-board, $500, and office supplies will be $1,500 resulting in an overall budget amount totaling $56 thousand dollars.
Some of the senators shared some updates on their committees. The Facilities, Housing, and Transportation chair, Griffin Stotland ’23 plans to figure out a way to implement one-way signage along loop road and the surrounding the Charles River Apartments Quad in order to maintain the flow of traffic that drivers violate.
Sahil Muthuswami ’24 continues to address problems regarding East Quad and plans to fix a “bump in the path that leads to skyline” as soon as possible.
As the chair of the dining committee, Ashna Kelkar ’24 will be meeting with one of the kosher representatives to discuss possible plans for the semester and looks forward to collaborating with the sustainability committee.
Audrey Sequeira ’24 and Sofia Lee ’24 are still in the process of planning possible socializing events for the sophomore class.
