Notre Dame’s Student Senate met Wednesday evening to exchange feedback pertaining to Notre Dame’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and the University’s inaugural Walk the Walk Week.
Senators raised concerns about the effectiveness of this year’s scheduling and potential improvements for next year.
Discussion lent itself to the possibility of a University-wide holiday without class.
“One big concern was faculty — are they going to come in if if they don’t have a class to teach? Same thing with the students — if you get out of bed and go to a 9 a.m. [class], you might as well go to this [Celebration] Luncheon. As opposed to [thinking], ‘It’s a three-day weekend, I’m going to go out drinking on a Sunday night,’” student body president Bryan Ricketts said.
In addition to discussion of Walk The Walk Week, the Senate approved the nomination of a new Director of Gender Issues, sophomore Alex Eisele.
Ricketts said he nominated Eisele for the position after a thorough interview process.
“Alex has been a good friend of many of the members of Student Government. … We talked to her about her experiences with the It’s On Us Campaign and GreenDot and her involvement with that,” Ricketts said. “We were very impressed with the way that, even though she wasn’t formerly involved in student government, she really took to heart the messages of the campaign.”
Members of Senate proceeded to discuss and pass sophomore Sara Dugan, Parliamentarian, as an acting and non-voting member of Judicial Council’s election committee.
This order was due to the fact that Ricketts and Zach Waterson, Judicial Council president, are currently searching for a new Director of Internal Affairs, a position previously held by sophomore student body vice-presidential candidate Rebecca Blais.
Dugan’s role will include impartially advising the election committee on all constitutional matters, effective immediately, due to her extensive knowledge of the student government Constitution.
Junior Isabel Fox, Ryan Hall Senator, expressed concern that Dugan is Blais's roomate, sensing a possible conflict of interest.
Waterson stated that Dugan will have a “fairly minor role” and will help the election committee understand the context of the Constitution’s clauses in the case that there is a violation of election rules and procedures.
