The Senate met with Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel during their weekly meeting on Sunday, discussing overwhelmingly negative and neutral alumni reviews of the University.

In executive officer reports, Student Union Vice President Paul Sindberg ’18 said that he and Class of 2017 Senator Ryan Tracy have been getting club leaders bystander trained, an initiative that carried over from last semester. According to Sindberg, clubs whose leaders have not been bystander trained will be placed under probationary status — which includes being locked out of the Student Union Management System — and will risk derecognition and dechartering if they are still not bystander trained by the end of the semester.

Executive Senator Hannah Brown ’19 told senators that Student Union Executive Board members have been meeting with members of the Graduate Student Association to discuss issues such as the cancellation of the Riverside shuttle. She noted that the Student Union is working on a framework for a permanent form of communication between the GSA and the Union.

Sindberg then nominated several senators for committee chair positions. The Senate confirmed Tracy as Club Support Committee chair, Class of 2019 Senator Kate Kesselman as Dining Committee chair, Senator At Large Nathan Greess as Bylaws Committee chair, East Quad Senator Elijah Sinclair ’19 as Sustainability Committee chair and Brown as Services and Outreach Committee chair by block motion. Sindberg then nominated Massell Quad Senator Aaron Finkel ’20 for Campus Operations Working Group chair, Class of 2018 Senator Christian Nunez for Social Justice and Diversity Committee chair and Village Quad Senator Charlotte Lang ’19 for Health and Safety Committee chair. All three were confirmed.

In committee chair reports, Kesselman reported that the Dining Committee has met with Sodexo to discuss issues such as cross-contamination and foot traffic to Dunkin’ Donuts and other dining locations on campus.

Greess explained that the Bylaws Committee will seek to clarify and condense the Student Union bylaws in the coming months, noting that a large portion of the Student Union bylaws are not in use, with some pertaining to grants or institutions that no longer exist.

Flagel then addressed the Senate, giving a brief overview of consultant Mark Neustadt’s presentations to the community regarding how Brandeis is marketed. Flagel told the senators that alumni have given overwhelmingly negative and neutral recommendations of the University, despite looking back on their time on campus fondly.

Brown asked Flagel how the Union could help change that, to which Flagel responded that a culture of pride in the University is necessary. He asserted his belief that students think it is “uncool” to show pride in the University, adding that many students have a hard time aligning social justice values with institutional pride.

Nunez asked Flagel how the University intends to reach out to students who are dissatisfied with their campus experience and who might feel fear and uncertainty in the wake of President Donald Trump’s election. Flagel responded that the University has invested heavily in counseling and chaplain services in an attempt to help students in need, though he said he is uncertain of how to bridge divides between students. To do so, he postulated, there will need to be discussions with students on what step to take next.

In open forum, Rosenthal Quad Senator Julien Tremblay ’19 spoke about the men’s soccer team’s regular meetings with Liebowitz, during which team members felt comfortable sharing their opinions regarding campus culture, he said. Tremblay then suggested the Student Union set up a similar meeting schedule with Liebowitz.

—Abby Patkin