Senate Spotlight 03/29/23
The following is an overview of the SGA Student Senate meeting held on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, at 7 pm in the Riley Room of Atherton Union.
Maya Illanes | millanes@butler.edu
The meeting commenced with 20 senate members present. The Senate voted to approve the previous minutes from last week, and the business for this week began.
Two new student organizations were presented. The first organization was called the “Talk It Out Podcast,” with already over 95 students interested. The mission of this organization is to create podcasts where Butler students are allowed to come together and have conversations about any topic they feel passionate about. The President of this organization is Hadassah Brent and the Vice President is Justin Deemlo. The podcast will meet bi-weekly and will record episodes once a month, which totals four episodes per semester. The goal of this organization is to benefit Butler students with a free outlet for them to communicate their opinions in a judgment-free space.
The second student organization that was presented was the “Butler Catan Club.” This organization is run by President Gregory Golden and Vice President Mark Surhoff. The mission is to bring a sense of belonging, joy, and competition to the students of Butler through the classic board game Catan. They will create a safe space for students to be themselves and socially interact. The organization will meet once a week and incorporate rounds of games and tournaments. They currently have over 35 students interested, and there is no required skill level for members, the games can be as relaxed or as competitive as students want.
The Academic Affairs committee met with the deans of the colleges of Butler to discuss student concerns. The meeting for the Jordan College of the Arts covered possible renovations for Lilly Hall such as id scanners for outside classroom doors. They also discussed the approval of vending machines with more nutritious food options for the dancers in between class and rehearsals other than the snacks currently available.
The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences meeting involved discussions on the advocation of mental health for the students in the science's highly demanding academic settings. They also discussed the idea of involving more COPHS students involved in SGA events despite their busy schedules.
The College of Education met and discussed ideas for the currently empty courtyard space at South Campus. The renovation ideas for this space are currently up in the air due to the university’s plans for a complete renovation of the CTS apartments along with South Campus. School safety concerns were brought up about the recent school shootings since South Campus is a public space with an open-access building.
The meeting moved on to new business resolutions. They approved the motion to award Becca Mattson for her work in the advocacy of the student body for increased campus accessibility. She has made many tangible changes as well as educated many of the students on the importance of disability access. Another award for service to SGA was announced, awarding Rosel Brewer for all of his work over the past years and his current role as director of policy and procedures. The name of this service to the SGA Award will be permanently changed to the Rosel Brewer SGA service award in his honor.
The meeting concluded with announcements for upcoming events. There will be an outreach event run by the Academic Affairs committee on April 19th from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. with therapy dogs outside the star fountain on campus. The student government banquet and award ceremony will be held on April 17th with doors opening at 6:00 p.m. and the event commencing at 6:30 p.m. On March 30th there will be a blood drive happening all day on campus.