Committee chair appointments confirmed

The Student Senate met to confirm Grand Marshal Stef Warner ’19’s appointments to various senatorial positions including vice grand marshal, parliamentarian, secretary, and all other necessary roles. In addition to the appointment of new members, the Senate also voted in favor of amendments to the Undergraduate Council Bylaws. The Senate went into new business after a few quick committee and peer body reports were made. The first motion of the night was for the appointment of Meagan Lettko ’20 as vice grand marshal. Lettko served as a class of 2020 senator for the past year and was reelected for another term in the most recent election. She served on the Academic Reforms Committee and was involved in the director of the Union hiring process. Lettko was appointed to the position with a vote of 14-0-3. 

Followed by the appointment of vice grand marshal, the senate voted unanimously to appoint Colleen Corrigan ’21 as parliamentarian, Reed Freeman ’19 as secretary, Christopher Pybus ’18 as treasurer, Mary Clare Crochiere ’19 as Senate-Executive Board liaison, Anusha Agarwal ’20 as Academic Affairs chair, and Nancy Bush ’19 as Facilities and Services chair.

Advaith Narayan ’21 was appointed to lead the Hospitality Services Advisory Committee. Narayan said that, after a semester of opening up communications with students inquiring about the quality of services provided by Sodexo, he would follow up by finishing projects like the Blue Apron food plan and working to get more feedback. After some conversation about the upcoming renewal of the contract for food services, it was determined that it would be unreasonable for Narayan to take a stance, as choosing a contract is not up to the committee. Narayan was appointed as committee chair with a vote of 15-0-3.

Zachary Taylor’s ’21 appointment to Elections Commission chair passed 15-0-3 after some deliberation about the future of Rensselaer’s elections. Taylor admitted that while the previous election did not go very smoothly, a lot of the issues stemmed from poor preparation and lack of interest. Taylor said that he would change things this semester by making sure that there were enough people involved in the committee to ensure a good job would be done, and that he would be working with System Administrators and the Web Technologies group well in advance to ensure a smooth election. When asked about election results being leaked, Taylor said that he aims to work with administrators to ensure that the only person who can access election results is either the elections commissioner or someone who is approved by them. Taylor was approved by the Senate with a 15-0-3 vote.

The remaining appointments of Bryan Johns ’19 as Student Life chair, Isabella Arroyo ’20 as Community Relations chair, Mathew Aliotta ’19 as Student Government Communications chair, and Grace Roller ’20 as Web Technologies chair passed unanimously. 

The final business for the night was to approve changes to the Undergraduate Council Bylaws. The amendment was proposed to allow for more open communication between the Undergraduate Council and the Senate through a liaison position. The role is a non-voting, representative position which exists to increase communication between the two governing bodies. The amendment passed 16-0-2. 

The Senate holds their meetings every Wednesday at 8 pm on the third floor of the Union.