The Senate convened to discuss general student club and committee affairs and the creation of a new Senate Health and Safety Committee on Sunday.

After taking attendance, the Senate voted on chartering Common Ground, the first and only Muslim-Jewish dialogue group at the University. Common Ground leads dialogue to educate and promote unity between Jewish and Muslim communities on campus and in the greater world. Chartering was approved in an unanimous vote, as Senate members commented on the University’s diverse community and the club’s intentions to use funding for community engagement programs.

In a block vote, the Senate then unanimously moved to decharter and derecognize student clubs that have failed to submit an anti-hazing agreement. Clubs that have asked for derecognition were included in the vote.

The Senators also voted on and passed a constitutional amendment for student club Global Brigades, which called for a change in the club’s structure and operation.

Executive Senator Hannah Brown ’19 announced an open Senate representative position for the Community Enhancement and Emergency Fund. CEEF board members will oversee distribution of the Senate’s unspent rollover funds. A Senate member will be voted into the position at next week’s meeting.

Brown encouraged all Senate members to accept University President Ron Liebowitz’s invitation to a series of open Board of Trustees meetings regarding the University’s finances, beginning Thursday. Open to all Brandeis students, the meetings will be hosted by Leibowitz, Executive Vice President Stew Uretsky and Provost Lisa Lynch.

Moving into Senate committee chair reports, Class of 2019 Senator Kate Kesselman, the Dining Committee chair, spoke on current committee dialogue with Sodexo regarding issues about the recent cutback of Lower Usdan’s hours of operation. Sodexo will soon send out a survey to gauge student perspective on dining at Brandeis, she noted.

Senator at Large Nathan Grees ’19 discussed standardizing a format for bylaws to ensure clarity and organization of Senate procedures.

Class of 2017 Senator Ryan Tracy, Club Support Committee chair, announced the implementation of mandated bystander training for all club leaders starting in October, in collaboration with the Office of Prevention Services. East Quad Senator Elijah Sinclair ’19, chairman of the Sustainability Committee, discussed current campus initiatives to diminish paper cup usage. A survey for student opinions on campus sustainability will soon be issued, he added.

Brown, the Services and Outreach Committee chair, announced that all Student Union committees open to non-Senate members will be posted through the Student Union’s weekly emails.

The Senators also voted on the Senate representative to the Allocations Board, selecting Kesselman, who was the only contender and previously held the position.

Brown then introduced a vote of endorsement on S.2471 Massachusetts Legislature, a bill calling for a task force to create a survey on sexual assault occurring in state colleges and universities. In a move for solidarity, the Senate unanimously voted to endorse the bill to help garner attention of local Massachusetts legislators.

A bylaw amendment for the creation of a Health and Safety Committee — written by Brown and Student Union Vice President Paul Sindberg ’18 — was proposed and passed. The committee serves to advocate awareness and information to students regarding sexual health, alcohol and drugs, mental and emotional health, physical health and the safety of students on and off campus. The Senate voted to suspend the rules requiring a waiting period after the introduction of such a committee proposal and proceeded to pass the bylaw in unanimous vote.

In individual senator reports, senators reported on recent comments and concerns from their constituents. Grees and Foster Mods Senator Ari Matz ’17 both mentioned continued student questions regarding the number of citations issued to students during social events on campus.

From this meeting on, the Union has also begun having a Student Union Judiciary member attend all Senate meetings to improve the relationship and cross-communication among Student Union branches.

—Michelle Dang