The Student Union meeting on March 17 consisted of multiple club presentations. Five clubs presented their case as to why they should be chartered or moved to probationary status and the Student Union voted on whether or not to accredit them. Four out of the five clubs passed the presentations. The fifth club, Business for Dummies, was not accredited by the Senate due to its resemblance to other clubs already established on the Brandeis campus.

The first club to present was The Hidden Opponent , where the Student Union heard from the club's two presidents, Dominique Paglia ’25 and Lexi Kaufman ’24, as well as their vice president, Gabe Levin ’27. THO is a national organization, and these students want to open a chapter at Brandeis. THO raises awareness for mental health in  sports culture and provides a safe space for student-athletes to discuss topics surrounding mental health in sports.

Since THO is a national organization, it has many resources, which it plans to use to educate on mental health, implement changes at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center  relating to all student-athletes and create a more positive environment. 

The club has two advisors: Julia Horvitz, a community therapist at the University, and Kaitlin Carson, a strength and conditioning coach. Over the past several months, the club has organized awareness games, month-long discussions and other activities. They plan to organize more events in the future.

After a brief time for questions, during which it was found that a student does not have to be an athlete to join and that over 40 students had expressed interest, the Student Union voted to charter the club.

The next club to present was the Brandeis Animajors Club for All, which was presented by its prospective  president, James Lew ’27. He was motivated to create the club due to Brandeis's lack of a centralized anime community. The BACA club has hosted two viewing events so far and plans to continue doing so. The club also wants to partner with other cultural clubs to organize events. 

BACA aims to create a lasting anime community for everyone, especially those who have never seen anime before. The Student Union voted to make BACA a probationary club.

The Students of the Caribbean Association was presented by their  president, Abygail Francis ’26, and the vice president, Shaniece Nugent ’26. SOCA is an aspiring cultural club that promotes Caribbean culture and facilitates a space for history, diversity and education.

SOCA has held a couple of events in the past, including a collaboration with the Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies department. The club hopes to host more events in the future, including a dance workshop. The Student Union accredited the club with probationary status.

The last club to present was Aspiring Educators, by Zaire Simmonds ’26. Aspiring Educators is a club built on creating a sense of community for those who want to pursue a career in education at the University. The club's E-board members all focus on different divisions of education: policy, secondary or elementary. 

Simmonds created this club that focuses on teacher prep, teacher recruitment and social issues in education and the world. After Brandeis cut the Master of Arts in Teaching program — a specific program that drew in aspiring education majors — Simmonds wanted to create a club to support the education community. They have organized many events, including hip hop and education with Basement Records at Brandeis.

The club also provides multiple resources for education majors, including professional development and Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure prep for free. The Student Union voted this club into a probationary club.

The Student Union also discussed the changes to the constitution for the upcoming year. The most significant changes are those in the Senate. Due to the recent affirmative action decision by the Supreme Court, the Racial Minority seats in both the Senate and the Allocations Board are being removed for the next election.

The Senate is also eliminating representatives for housing, midyears and international positions to make it more inclusive and encourage more students to get involved. Now, senators will be picked based on the class year. The Student Union plans to do more outreach to get students more involved.

— Editor’s Note: Justice staff writer Ria Escamilla-Gil ’27  and Justice Editor Rani Balakrishna ’25 are Student Union senators and did not contribute to this article.