Saint Mary's student senate met Tuesday night to discuss the changes to the constitution of the Council of Activities and other updates from the various committees on campus.
Student body president Kat Sullivan said the Student Government Association (SGA) has been working to propose various changes to the constitution.
"The mission of the Council of Activities is to have its primary aim be to enrich campus life through the collaboration and coordination of campus programming," Sullivan said. "Before, there [were] no attendance standards or responsibilities listed in the constitution. I think it's important to acknowledge both of these so it is clear to members."
Student body vice president Maddy Martin agreed that these policy changes will make Council members responsible for adhering to the attendance policy the senate expects of them.
"If it's in writing, it's something that has been approved and is reflective of the whole senate's ideals for the Council of Activities," Martin said.
The senate approved the motion to amend the Council's constitution.
President of Finance, senior Emily Murphy, presented an updated version of the SGA Finance Committee Bylaws for the school year. All changes and edits to the bylaws were approved and finalized by the senate.
Junior class senator Rachel Sinchak said the new approvals will help the overall organization of SGA.
"Even though I'm not in Council of Activities or the Finance Committee, it will be nice for their members to know which meetings they are required to attend and what responsibilities matter most to their individual positions in SGA," Sinchak said. "I think that these changes will be helpful for students to better organize their busy schedules around their duties to SGA."
Martin also discussed the plans for children from the South Bend Robinson Center to attend one of the senate meetings.
"The Robinson Center provides after-school activities, tutoring, anti-bullying lessons, amongst other things, for children in our area," Martin said. "It's a great program and we would like to help their leadership group see how we go about doing things here."
Vice president of external affairs, junior Kelly Gutrich, said she is most excited for this event, because she believes that SGA can teach the children a lot about leadership.
"I think it's so important for children in the South Bend area to experience firsthand how good leadership can bring success to a community," Gutrich said. "I'm looking forward to bringing the children here for one of our meetings, and I hope it happens soon."
President of the Student Diversity Board (SDB), Carmen Cardenas, also provided an update for the senate about the group's upcoming events, such as the Hunger Banquet, which will take place throughout November. Cardenas said the Board is working with Oxfam, an international organization devoted to fighting poverty and hunger, to organize a banquet that will give students a better perspective of the extremities of both world and U.S. hunger.
"[At the banquet,] some students will get really good food and others just get rice to show how hunger is a prevalent issue in the world today," Cardenas said.
Contact Kelly Konya at kkonya01@saintmarys.edu
