The first meeting of the 2024-2025 senate was held on Wednesday night and began swearing in those recently elected.
Student body president Dawson Kiser and vice president Maeve Miller were sworn in Wednesday evening as the new administration transitioned into their new positions. They took the oath of office and swore to uphold the student body constitution. The newly elected hall senators were also sworn in.
The senate approved last week’s minutes, with the Keenan senator interjecting to make grammatical changes.
Maeve Miller and Hunter Brooke reminded the new senators of parliamentary procedure and emphasized the absence policy.
“Please read the senate bylaws. It does have a lot of important information; the most important to you guys right now is the attendance policy,” she said.
According to the policy senators are allotted six excused absences and three unexcused absences.
Following this, the resolutions for the executive cabinet nominations began. Allison O’Connor was elected as the new administration’s chief of staff, Eileen Burger as the Student Union Secretary and Kevin White as the executive controller.
The following were also elected as cabinet department directors: Sarah Burton, Jeongwoo Kim, Grace DeCroix, Danielle Arno, Mason McCart, Jack Onderdonk, Evan Arsenault, Ethan Chiang, Sakura Yamanaka, Emma Ronck, Tami Alli, Shahad Al Wuhaili, Lena Dougherty, Bode Menegay, Bennett Schmitt, Joshua Johnson, Kaza-Zack Kazirukanyo, Kacper Szyller, Bryn Dougherty, Ben Martin and Alex Neff.
Subsequently, the senate proceeded to address resolutions concerning the transition of the outgoing administration to emeritus status. First on the docket was student body president Daniel Jung.
Aidan Rezner, outgoing student body vice president, spoke out in support of Jung.
“I worked with him very, very closely this year, and I am also his roommate. So, I saw an in-depth view of what this job really entails. I saw so many sleepless nights, so much work and effort with enthusiasm that was just unmatched,” Rezner said. “He cares so much about this role and really did everything he could to make the experience for you and the students the best possible.”
The resolution was passed unanimously.
Aidan Rezner followed and received equally high praise by his colleagues. Hunter Brooke talked on the qualities possessed by Rezner.
“I really have great respect for the way in which he went about his job. I believe he was extremely passionate towards senators, but towards everyone, and I think he really maintained sort of a guiding light as to why he was doing his job and why he was making the decisions he made,” Brooke said.
Collette Doyle was also nominated to Emeritus status for her work as chief of staff.
“I think everyone in our cabinet knows that every initiative, event, or program that we put on was really her work in cultivating strong relationships with the cabinet. She so deeply cares about every single one of the cabinet members and their success,” Rezner asked.
Koryn Isa served as the Judicial Council president for the 2023-2024 term and was also awarded emeritus status.
Thomas Musgrave, vice president of peer advocacy, said, “Koryn always acted with kindness towards everyone she met throughout her time; I don’t think anybody has ever said a bad word about Koryn.” He further added, “She was always a shining light, especially when things got tough.”
The senate also extended the deadline for Judicial Council elections and extended the publication of senate recordings online.
The meeting concluded with the passing of the extension of the Committee on the Constitution.
