Katy McGarry and Nick Webber were sworn into office as student body president and vice president of Student Senate’s 61st session Monday evening.

Former Student Body President Ashley Sukhu and Vice President Colton Ashley gave their closing remarks before transitioning power to McGarry and Webber as they concluded their time with Senate.

“We are very, very excited for this upcoming year and proud of the Senate we have,” McGarry said while taking the oath of office. “I’m proud of every single one of you and the contributions that I already know you’re going to have to this university, and I’m very excited to move forward.”

The 61st session also passed its second bill during the meeting. The bill, introduced by Campus Affairs Director Lars Nelson, made revisions to Student Organization Constitution requirements and guidelines. It updated policies so they are consistent with policies and requirements of the UW System and the Senate bylaws.

One change requires student organizations to provide a statement in its constitution that it will update its BluSync profiles annually by the second Wednesday of October, two weeks earlier than the previous deadline. The reason for the change, Nelson said, is to speed up the process of getting student organizations recognized by Senate and the university.

Another modification strengthened the language surrounding a requirement pertaining to the use of funds to purchase alcohol for an organization (number six in the document). Previously, policy required the organization to include a statement that it “will not use funds collected from membership dues, fees, or fundraising efforts to purchase alcohol or promotional materials for events that can only legally be attended by members of a certain age.”

Changes were made to align with university policy by prohibiting the use of funds to purchase alcohol. It also bars members’ ability to purchase alcohol “in the name of or behalf of the organization.” According to the document, “… same funds may not be used to purchase promotional materials for unofficial events that can only be attended by those of legal drinking age.”

Senator Bobbi Freagon expressed her support for the bill and praised the changes made to align with university policy. She said she was alarmed there was nothing in place to align with university policy before.

“I think it’s just basically updating what we currently have in place, so it aligns better with university policy and bylaws,” Freagon said. “I especially liked the update to number six. I think adding some more stronger, concrete language in there is really good. There’s no kind of gray area.”

A motion to suspend the rules in order to vote on the bill Monday evening instead of during next week’s meeting passed with a vote of 23-1-2. After a short reintroduction of the bill, Senate passed the bill 26-0-2.

Closed session to approve the appointments for the chief of staff and for director positions of academic affairs, campus affairs, and summer student office of sustainability took place following the general meeting.

Each appointed director gave a presentation before the general assembly and took questions before Senate moved into closed session where voting members deliberated each appointment.

The approved director positions are as follows:

— Chief of Staff – Branden Yates

— Academic Affairs Director – David Miller

— Campus Affairs Director – Hunter Clark

— Summer Student Office of Sustainability Director – Jake McCulloch

Approval of the remaining appointed directors will take place before the end of the semester.