The new PSU student senate conducted it first meeting last night in the Smith Memorial center. With gavel in hand, vice president Dune Zhu had his first opportunity to lead the senate as chair. Some of the procedures were new to him, as they were for the majority of the 19 recently elected senators.
The first major vote in session was deciding who would be next year’s Pro-tempore. Candidates included Joe Johnson, Kara Mackillop and Josh Morris. The pro-tempore is responsible for setting the senate agenda and replacing the vice president if he or she can not serve.
Senate member David Jimenez asked each candidate, “How would you determine your agenda from your own interests?” All candidates answered that they would put their own agenda to the side.
Morris was elected as pro-tempore. In his speech to the senate, he declared that he is the most “qualified” and would perform the job to the best of his ability.
Also, guest speaker Wendy Endress passed out the newly revised student conduct code. “Much of the content is instituted by Oregon law but to some degree how we administer our conduct process is within the institution’s purview,” Endress said. “Our revisions were developed based on a lot of time and energy of a task force.”
New changes included expansions of the definition of the conduct code itself, a clarification of the jurisdiction, a delineation which offenses are prohibited by the state board of education and which are prohibited by PSU and procedures of complaint.
Endress mentioned that “the old student code hadn’t been revised since the mid-’90s.”
Much of the evening was spent deciding when to meet during the summer and next academic year. Senate member Shahriyar Smith suggested an evening time, but senate member Dimitris Desyllas reminded the senate that “we are here for the student body” and that an evening time would make it harder for most students to attend. However, the meeting time was set for Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. with a bi-weekly meeting set for the summer.
Sally Eck, advisor to the student government, passed out registration sheets for early class admission. All senate students get to register for fall classes by this Friday. Early admission is to assure that all senate members can attend meetings by setting their school schedules around the scheduled meeting time and day.
Senate members chose committees they would be best qualified for. Faculty senate guides were also disseminated and the committees were outlined for senate members. A sign-up sheet was passed around and members picked their top five choices.