The 60th Session of Student Senate passed a bill to adopt new Senate bylaws during its final meeting before the 61st Session was sworn in Monday evening.

The bill, introduced by the Internal Affairs Commission, consists of updates and additions to the current bylaws and now includes the Senate commission bylaws for ease of reference.

The Student Office of Sustainability Director, Ethan Fuhrman, discussed some of these changes made by the Internal Affairs Commission with the Senate.

A new standard for adopting bylaws was set to require a 75 percent affirmative vote from Senate, a change from the previous 67 percent needed, Fuhrman said.

To remain consistent with UW System policies, updates were made to the procedures of allocating allocable segregated fees.

Clarification of the requirements for presidency and vice presidency positions and the addition of a communications commission and equity and student matters commission were also established within the new bylaws.  

A position for an Academic Affairs Policy Coordinator was created, which Academic Affairs Director Nathan Altmann said would ease up the workload on the director and better manage the director’s time.

“That gives the director more time to set priorities that are less directly related to specific policy development,” Altmann said.

Little debate occurred over the passage of the bill, although editorial amendments were made periodically to the document when needed.

Chief of Staff and Student Body President-elect Katy McGarry said these changes are a “good step forward,” as they provide more transparency and ensure everything is located in a singular place for simple reference.  

“As chair of the Internal Affairs Commission, we had kind of one goal through the year and it was to change our bylaws, make them more comprehensive, make them make sense, and we wouldn’t have done it without Director Fuhrman,” said McGarry.

Fuhrman said these new adoptions would be taking into account most of the pre-existing bylaws while adding updates that “reflect the desired practices of this body.”

“This would update a lot of our policies,” Fuhrman said. “It would also follow through with some of our responsibilities as a body that we set forth in previous legislation. I am referring specifically to the creation of the Equity and Student Matters Commission. This would take their recommended bylaws and incorporate it into the Student Senate Bylaws.”

The bill passed 25-2-0 through a roll call vote.

Senate also voted to certify the election results. The certification passed 27-0-0 through a roll call vote.

Off-Campus Senator Hunter Clark introduced a bill on behalf of Finance Director Jorge Herrero Berengue that would allow special allocations to the fraternity Delta Tau Delta for their upcoming Dodging for Diabetes Dodgeball Tournament to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Senate will vote on this bill next week.

61st Session Begins

On Monday evening, 11 on-campus senators and 19 off-campus senators were sworn into Senate’s 61st Session. Thirteen of the appointed senators served on the 60th Session of Senate as well. The new student body president-elect and vice president-elect will take office during the last Senate meeting of the year on May 1.

 

On-Campus:

— Lillian Vang

— Emily Wagner

— Skyler Hanson

— Paige Panzenhagen

— Reed Hoffmann

— Alexandra Kurutz

— Peter Currie

— Marc Cain  

— Joseph Howden

— Jefferson Hall

— Raja Raman Selvarajan

 

Off-Campus:

 

— Rashawn Williams

— Branden Yates

— Maddie Forrest

— Alejandra Estrada

— Robert Nguyen

— Angel Ramirez

— Derek Lindquist

— Tanner Thompson

— Maddy Earley

— Kessa Albright

— Hillary Smith

— Bryce Vanden Heuvel

— Hunter Clark

— Aubrie Peterson

— Bobbi Freagon

— Jonathon Butz

— Cinna Swanson

— Ryan Keller

— Ryan Ring