The Council of Representatives (COR) approved Tyler "T.J." Smith as parliamentarian at its meeting Tuesday. Smith fills a position that, though written into the student union constitution, was previously vacant.
Smith, a freshman from Knott Hall, has assisted in his dorm's programming events, such as the Knott Rodeo, since coming to Notre Dame. In high school, he participated in student government and served as the vice president of Model United Nations.
Smith "enjoys the technical and rule-based parts of government," judicial council president Ashley Weiss said in her nomination letter to the members of COR, in support of Smith.
As parliamentarian, Smith is responsible for ensuring that all rules are followed at all student government meetings.
During a period in which COR members could pose questions to Smith, student body vice president Maris Braun, who is also responsible for running Senate meetings, asked, "Are you prepared to baby-sit me for one hour on Wednesday nights because my meetings are a train wreck?"
Smith said he was "so prepared."
He was less enthusiastic, however, about student government director of communications Will Kearney's suggestion "to use physical force to keep Maris and [student body president] Liz [Brown] in line."
"I don't know about physical force," Smith said.
Smith was approved to the position of Parliamentarian unanimously.
ACE speaker
Christopher Broughton, an on-campus recruiter for the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), spoke at the COR meeting to promote applications for the program, which places graduates in under-resourced Catholic schools for a two-year period as teachers.
Broughton also urged COR members to promote ACE's service trip over winter break to New Orleans and Biloxi, Miss, to work with two schools affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Both schools will be in session during the Jan. 7-13 trip. Applications are available online at ace.nd.edu and are due Oct. 19, he said. The trip is open to all students.
Fresh faces
Approximately 12 freshmen applied for Senate committees this fall, according to student body chief executive assistant Sheena Plamoottil.
Around 50 freshmen attended the "Student Government 101" recruiting session. COR members were impressed with these numbers.
