Student Senate met for their weekly meeting Thursday, March 10 at 3:45 p.m. in Hoover 212.

The meeting began with a special call to order by Blake Reed, where she spoke on the important role Power of One Day plays for fundraising for the campus. The money raised is used for financial aid, scholarships and more.

The meeting then went into administrative reports, starting with Dean of Students and Executive Director for College Diversity, Equity and Belonging Nichole Gonzalez where she discussed that a number of bias related incidents have recently occurred on campus, and emails were sent out alerting students of these incidents.

Gonzalez also discussed the recent incident in the Masters Center in which the fire alarm was pulled due to smoke in the building. She reported that there was no fire, but there was smoke and an odor present, so EMS vehicles were called.

The Center for Student Success Representative Michelle Henry sent a report that touched on the advising connections taking place March 14 to 18, in which first-year students will make the transition from their first year seminar advisor to one within their academic program.

During student comments and announcements, Class of 2024 Representative Sarah Moscoso discussed how student concerns had been brought to her about changes being made in the Marketplace food, specifically making meals that used to be vegetarian or vegan no longer follow these dietary restrictions.

Class of 2023 Representative Jocelyn Itterly added on to Moscoso’s point that the options of gluten-free food within the Marketplace is extremely limited and puts those with a dietary accommodation in a difficult situation to try and get food.

Moving into executive cabinet reports, Executive President Andrew Furman reported that Executive Cabinet is working to finalize a date for the Senior Leadership Team meeting. Furman also reported that Dr. Telleen was elected to another term, serving as Faculty Assembly President.

Elections Chairperson Cece Sadek reported that the Senate Scholarships will close on Friday March 11, and that they will then be reviewed by the elections committee. The top three will be reviewed by Student Life council for the final winners.

Publicity and Marketing Chairperson Jessica Freels reported that the committee will be working to complete ideation sessions with each class senate in order to improve Senates outreach to the campus.

Moving into committee updates, Advocacy and Service Committee Chairperson Madison Holmberg reported that Day of Service will be held on April 1. There was an email sent out to all students that contained a link to sign-up for time slots to participate.

Under new business, was a presentation lead by Executive Treasurer Kyle Cappucci and the finance committee. The presentation focused around the allocation Senate has for club requests in which of that $27,000, $26,550 has been requested, but not all has been awarded.

The biggest issues the committee is facing is clubs going to conferences, and rather than asking the department for funds will be asking Senate, and while Senate is able to provide some funds, it can be difficult to do so for larger conferences.

Club sports also present a set of challenges in that they are expensive to fund, especially when just starting up based on all the equipment needed.

The committee is working to brainstorm solutions for these issues, but ultimately is hoping to go to administration in order to go over these issues.

The other topic under New Business, was led by Student Groups Chairperson Alex D’Amico in which he first proposed a Ukraine Resolution in which Student Senate would give money to an organization that is helping the citizens of Ukraine.

This idea was tabled until the logistics of where this money can come from are discussed.

D’Amico also discussed how there has clearly been a rise in gas prices and proposed the Senate works with surrounding schools to create a campaign to prompt ways for students to lower their gas usage.

It was then motioned to debate whether this would become an ad-hoc committee or if Executive Cabinet would head it.

After debate, a vote was then motioned, in which having Executive Cabinet head it won.

The meeting was then motioned into an Executive Session in order to hold an election of Parliamentarian.

Student Senate meets weekly on Thursday at 3:45 p.m. in Hoover 212. Meetings are open to all the campus community.