The Notre Dame student senate met in a Mendoza College of Business classroom Wednesday and approved the appointment of two nominees to the senior class council, who will serve for the remainder of the 2023-2024 term.
Student body vice president Aidan Rezner, who presided over the meeting, began the gathering with a prayer. During the meeting’s roll call, Student Union secretary Isabella Tardio asked the senate to share their favorite on-campus meal. Almost half of the senate said the dining hall’s southwest salad was their favorite.
In executive announcements, Rezner reminded the senators of this week’s Civic Engagement Week before moving onto the general orders section of the meeting.
Confusion over senate order
The student union’s parliamentarian, Hunter Brooke, authored the meeting’s first proposal. The senate order called for the insertion of the Deputy Student Union Parliamentarian position into the constitution. During questioning, some of the senators asked why the order was necessary.
“Within the (Judicial Council) bylaws, there is currently a provision that allows for the appointment of two deputy parliamentarians,” Brooke answered. “Their role is to assist (the Judicial Council) and the parliamentarian in the execution of their responsibilities, so this is just putting that in the constitution.”
Before voting, Judicial Council president and co-author of the legislation, Koryn Isa, voiced her support of the order.
“This is, to our knowledge, the first year that we’ve been able to have the deputy parliamentarians,” Isa said.
She added it was important for continuity of knowledge within the Student Union.
“I think (Brooke) took the deputies under his wing this year, and I think that they can both attest to the immense amount that they learned from him,” Isa said. “I think that by including this position in the constitution, it will allow more of his responsibilities to be delegated and shared.”
The senate discussed the legislation for 10 minutes through questioning and debate, and when it was time to vote, 17 senators voted to pass and 10 voted against. Rezner counted the votes, spoke quietly with Brooke and announced that the order passed.
Not so fast. According to the student union constitution, “orders must be passed by a two-thirds vote” in the senate, unless otherwise stated.
Brooke and Rezner told The Observer after the meeting that they had caught their error and will place the order up for a re-vote in next week’s meeting, with Brooke insisting that it was his mistake.
Senior class council nominations
Rezner requested the senate to move nominations for senior class council vice president and treasurer from new business on the meeting agenda to general orders because the nominees were both present. His was request granted, and the nominations went forward with little difficulty.
During the questioning section of senior Matt Kianpour’s nomination to senior class council vice president, Dillon Hall senator Sam Godinez asked what happened to the previous holder of the position.
“This questioning is about the nominee, not about past proceedings,” Rezner said. “So if you could focus your questions on that, that would be wonderful. Thank you.”
The senate passed Kianpour’s nomination unanimously, and moved swiftly to nominate Anna Nunag to senior class council treasurer.
Before the meeting was adjourned, Keenan Hall senator Rocco Giannotti reminded the senate that Keenan Revue ticket sales will be held in Dahnke Ballroom Monday, Feb. 12. Rezner thanked the senate for a respectful student body election season and Godinez thanked the senate for “some really good memes on Fizz about the election.”
