The University is “taking an approach that is not the UChicago approach” to examining free speech on campus, Student Union President David Herbstritt ’17 told the Student Union Senate at Sunday’s Senate meeting. In an executive officer report, Herbstritt said the Presidential Task Force on Free Expression currently has one undergraduate and one graduate student member and is looking for more participants.

Herbstritt said he’s received emails where “people have expressed concern that ‘free expression’ is a buzzword for saying whatever you want, no matter the consequences. I want to assure everyone that that’s not the case.” He said that the task force is exploring “what does freedom of academic expression mean and how can we engage in discourse that is meaningful, productive and considerate, and not just hands-off, everyone can say whatever they want. It’s been proven time and time again that that’s not just socially not great, it’s also not productive.”

Herbstritt appeared at the Senate meeting for the Senators to approve two new appointments to the Union’s Executive Board. The Senators voted unanimously to permit Allocations Board Chair Alex Feldman ’19 to join the Executive Board, due to his knowledge of the allocations process. Herbstritt said the E-Board is working more on club funding than he anticipated when he became president, so having an expert join those discussions would be helpful. The group also made Student Union Director of Academic Involvement Jacob Edelman ’18 their new permanent director of both academic involvement and communications. He had filled in when the communications director resigned earlier in the year, and Herbstritt praised his work managing the Union’s website.

The Senate also voted to recognize the Brandeis Climbing Club at the start of the meeting. Club members explained that Brandeis Climbing Club focuses on indoor rock-wall climbing and provides competitive training to those interested. Their eventual goal is to form a club sports team for rock climbing. Senators asked how the Brandeis Climbing Club is different from the Mountain Club, which also provides rock-climbing events. Club members responded that the Mountain Club focuses on mountaineering, while their club focuses on rock climbing and has competitive interests.

The club members hope to eventually receive University funding as a subsidy for gym costs. Currently, Brandeis Climbing Club members need to pay for their own gym membership, which can be around $60 per month.

In committee reports, Senator at Large Shaquan McDowell ’18 said he met with Vice President for Campus Operations Jim Gray about providing menstrual products around campus. According to McDowell, Gray said he thought the issue was not a serious concern to students because of low response to the Justice’s and the Brandeis Hoot’s coverage of the issue, according to McDowell. McDowell said he told Gray that students discuss the issue frequently among each other and on social media.

Class of 2017 Senator Ryan Tracy presented a draft version of a report which club leaders may need to provide to the Student Union soon about current problems that clubs are facing. The report is separate from an anonymous survey, currently in development, that club members will be able to fill out at any time about their club’s activities.

The draft version provided to the Justice calls on club leaders to state three goals and reflect on their progress along those goals, as well as provide details on meeting times and officer’s duties. Senators debated whether to ask club leaders to provide attendance records to the Student Union and whether to organize training sessions for club leaders with professionals in their given fields.

—Max Moran