52nd Student Senate confirms student government appointments

The 52nd Student Senate confirmed the appointments of the new Executive Board representatives, Senate cabinet members, and Vice Grand Marshal over meetings from April 14 to May 5.

Sean Heffernan ’22 was appointed Vice Grand Marshal with a 17-0-1 vote. Previously an independent senator, Heffernan was also in charge of the Web Technologies Group, which provides platforms to Rensselaer students such as the Shuttle Tracker, petitions site, and elections dashboard.

Heffernan says he will continue working closely with committees, following the lead of his predecessor Colleen Corrigan ’21. He believes that “one of the biggest things that was lost with everything going online was the personal atmosphere,” and that the most effective way of regrowing committees is to build personal networks.

Alexander Grant ’24 was appointed as secretary of the Student Senate 18-0-0. Riaz Rao ’21 was unanimously appointed as Parliamentarian, which he also served as last year. Joey Hinckley ’23 was unanimously appointed both Union Annual Report Committee Chair and Senate-Executive Board Liaison.

The Senate appointed Talulah Patch ’24 as Community Relations Committee Chairperson, Chaz Bernstein ’22 as Student Life Committee Chairperson, Zoe Stetson ’22 as Academic Affairs Committee Chairperson, Alexander Patterson ’23 as Facilities and Services Committee Chair, William He ’22 as Web Technologies Group Chairperson, Nick Longchamp ’24 as Elections Commission Chairperson, and graduate student Tasnif Rahman as Interim International Student Affairs Student Advisor all unanimously, aside from the person themself abstaining. The Senate also unanimously appointed Minh Nguyen ’22 as Student Government Communications Committee Chairperson, Kamilia Nicolas ’24 as Hospitality Services Advisory Committee Chairperson, and Owen Lockwood ’22 as Judicial Board Chairperson.

Amanda Santos ’24, Cat Phillips ’24, Mia Mayerhofer ’23, Kriti Sharma ’25, Heather Almeida ’23, and Alexey Golub ’23 were unanimously appointed as Club and Organization Representatives to the E-Board. Conner Whitlock, Ava Gallagher, and Abigail Golden were unanimously appointed Class of 2022, 2023, and 2024 Representatives respectively. Nguyen and Natalia Lago ’24 were unanimously appointed Member-at-Large Representatives to the E-Board.

Brian Anderson ’21 was unanimously appointed Graduate Representative of the Executive Board. Anderson previously served on the E-Board as an undergraduate student and is now continuing under the coterm program.

The Senate also approved changes to the E-Board bylaws. The changes re-introduce the position of Rules and Special Project Vice President, changing the wording to accommodate this third Vice President. The rules for succession were also adapted to be based on seniority rather than position, where seniority is defined as “the number of calendar months served as a member of the Executive Board.”