The Senate convened for its first meeting of the semester on Sunday to review the purpose of the different branches of the Student Union and discuss initiatives for the coming months.

Student Union Vice President Paul Sindberg ’18 opened the meeting with a presentation on the Student Union’s goals for the coming year. He also briefly described key members of the administration and reviewed the demographic of the Board of Trustees, noting that the Board’s makeup was 72 percent male and 95 percent white. 

Sindberg then described each of the Student Union’s branches, asking the other senators what they believed should be some of the Union’s goals. “We’re here to make change, and I think we’re here to show students that they can have a voice,” Class of 2019 Senator Kate Kesselman said. 

“We’re the change people want to see — we’re role models, in a sense,” Class of 2018 Senator Christian Nunez added. 

The senators briefly discussed ways to promote the Senate’s values and initiatives throughout the semester before delving into an overview of the Senate’s committees. According to Sindberg, committee chair appointments will take place on Sept. 10 at the annual Student Union retreat. 

Before moving into a round of voting and confirmations, the senators made a few announcements and touched on changes they would like to see this semester.

Senator at Large Nathan Grees ’19 asked his fellow senators if they would be interested in creating a style guide for amendments, resolutions and bylaws. He noted that these types of legislation are especially inconsistent in style, and the Student Union could benefit from uniform structuring. 

Sindberg then announced that ’DEIS Impact is looking for members of the steering committee or event coordinators to decide which events will be held as part of the annual social justice festival. He added that anyone interested can be in contact with Student Union President David Herbstritt ’17. 

The senators then discussed the appointment of a Senate clerk, a process that is never mentioned in the Student Union Constitution. Sindberg appointed Grees as the clerk for the semester. 

Next, the Senate elected a new executive senator. The two nominees for the position were Kesselman and fellow Class of 2019 Senator Hannah Brown. In brief presentations prior to the vote, Kesselman drew upon her Senate and Allocations Board experience, while Brown cited her experience on the Services and Outreach Committee, the Dining Committee and the Campus Operations Committee. Ultimately, the Senate elected Brown the new executive senator via secret ballot. 

In the series of executive confirmations that followed, Max Byer ’19 was confirmed to the position of Director of Communications, Will Jones ’18 was confirmed as Junior Representative to the Board of Trustees, Jackson Tuck ’17 was confirmed as Chief of Staff, Adriana Gleaton ’17 was confirmed as Director of Community Involvement and Jacob Edelman ’18 was confirmed as Director of Academic Involvement. 

In senator reports, Kesselman noted that she, Brown and Herbstritt will be meeting with representatives from Dining Services on Thursday to discuss the recent changes in dining hours and locations. Byer then discussed a survey he, Edelman and Herbstritt released on social media about these changes. Although Byer noted that the survey was not official, he explained that a significant portion of the results expressed frustration or outrage about the changes. 

In open forum, Herbstritt asked the senators whether they wished to vote the executive senator up to serve on the Student Union Executive Board. After a brief vote, the motion passed. 

—Abby Patkin. Carmi Rothberg contributed reporting.