Updated: Oct. 27, 2015 at 1:31 p.m.
On Monday night, the Student Association Senate confirmed seven undergraduate and graduate students to serve in as many empty seats.
The SA Senate moved into executive sessions, which were closed to non-senators, twice: First to deliberate 17 nominees and again after the undergraduate position votes were tied. The meeting was held in the Eckles Library Auditorium on the Mount Vernon Campus.
At the close of a meeting that lasted for more than three hours, graduate students Chana Solomon-Schwartz, Traci Armani, Maxwell Gocala and Tremayne Smith were confirmed to seats. Undergraduate students Priyanka Walimbe, Rayhaan Merani and Kelsey Lombard were also brought into the senate.
During the meeting, current senators rejected a resolution, the Legislative Timeline Act, sponsored by Sen. Thomas Falcigno, CCAS-U. If the act passed, senators would have had to submit amendments to resolutions to Executive Vice President Casey Syron before SA meetings.
Sen. Charlie Spirtos, ESIA-U, said he was concerned the bill could water down the language of amendments that could better discussed in-person during meetings.
“They’re all going to come out with the same voice,” he said. “I’m getting the impression that the EVP and leadership committee wants to edit bills.”
The resolution, which needed two-thirds of the 23 senators present to vote for it to pass, received 14 votes. One senator abstained by proxy.
The SA Senate also passed a resolution without debate to adopt Robert’s Rules of Order, which are the rules many English-speaking legislative bodies follow, as the guidelines for deliberation in the senate.
Paden Gallagher, the former vice president and interim chair of the finance committee, was confirmed chair of the committee. Nancy Mannebach, a junior, suddenly resigned earlier this month. The finance committee will vote for a new vice president in a separate session.
This post has been updated to reflect the following correction:
The name of Charlie Spirtos was incorrectly spelled in the original post. We regret this error.
