The Student Union Senate gathered for its first meeting of the 2014 to 2015 academic year on Sunday.

The first order of business was to swear in any senators who missed the State of the Union, which took place at the end of last semester on April 28. Student Union President Sneha Walia ’15 swore in Class of 2016 Senator Nyah Macklin.

The Brandeis Christian Fellowship then proceeded to request of a change of name to Cru Brandeis. When it was founded, the BCF acted as an umbrella group for all branches of Christianity on campus where anyone of any branch could get together, but after the creation of more polarized Christian clubs such as the Orthodox Christian Organization, Christian Leaders and the Catholic Student Organization, the BCF felt that a name change was in order to more accurately represent the club.

In recent years, BCF became affiliated with Cru Boston, an organization composed of students from around 30 colleges and universities as well as a few high schools in the Boston area.

Cru Boston organizes activities such as a sunset boat cruise, retreats and meetings known as CityWide where students from participating programs gather together at one of the universities.

Although some senators expressed concerns that the name Cru Brandeis would be misleading and confused with Brandeis’ crew team, once it was confirmed that the team’s official name is the Brandeis Rowing Team, the Senate had no qualms about the name change and the motion was passed unanimously.

Next on the agenda, Chinese Table sought recognition. Chinese Table began to meet last year, and is a group of students taking Mandarin language classes who practice using the language in order to become more proficient. The club has consisted of general meetings as well as outings to Chinatown in Boston and brunches at the homes of native speakers.

The group is known and is recommended by professors of Mandarin according to Elyse Jackson ’16, the representative from Chinese Table. There were two points of contention with the proposal to recognize Chinese Table.

First, the club’s constitution included the statement that the club would be for students taking Mandarin classes, a type of exclusivity that is not permitted in recognized clubs.

Furthermore, some members of the Senate had reservations concerning whether Chinese Table would be best served under the umbrella of a club that has been previously recognized, such as the Brandeis Chinese Cultural Connection.

However, the Senate did recognize Chinese Table as an official club based on the fact that the club has been successful even without recognition, with the condition that the club edit its constitution to update and broaden the inclusivity statement in its constitution.

—Kathryn Brody