First-Year Sen. Justin Kochanski was sworn in and served in his first session around the table last Thursday night. In the position, Kochanski will take over direction of the First-Year Interest Committee.
In the session, Senate approved two new clubs. Both the Floor Hockey and Gung Fu Clubs received unanimous votes to become official campus organizations.
Two other organizations were approved for funding allocations, but not without discussion. The Drake Curling Club was allocated $2,593 for ice time rental and equipment costs.
The Drake Anime Club was allocated $951 for 12 members to attend the Anime Detour Convention in Bloomington, Minn. However, some senators felt that 12 members were too many to send to a convention.
“Is it worth it to send 12, or would it be just efficient to send six?” Sen. Stephen Slade said.
Vice President of Student Activities Jessica Hamilton agreed and called 12 members an “excessive” amount. However, Sen. Kayleigh Koester pointed out that the cost per member to attend the conference was lower than most other organizational conferences that Senate has allocated funds to. Sen. Dana Hansen agreed.
“I think the cost per person is low enough that it doesn’t worry me so much that they are taking so many people,” Hansen said.
School of Education Sen. Carly Hamilton brought up the concern that some education students without cars are having difficulties getting to their required hours of observation.
Student Body President Greg Larson offered the suggestion of “WeCar,” a car-sharing program that will hopefully be implemented for the fall 2012 semester.
“We need transportation opportunities for the university in general, and I think that needs to be a priority,” Sen. Erin Hogan said.
In another issue, Sen. Seejo Valacheril opened up the table for discussion on the future structure of the Organizational Council.
Senators voiced concerns on whether the OC meetings were beneficial or if the information discussed in the meetings was actually being relayed back to the organization.
“What we’re thinking, maybe in the future, is to have one-on-one meetings (with the organization president) to kind of get their plans for the rest of the semester,” Valacheril said.
Larson also reminded senators about the upcoming Fireside Chat with Drake President David Maxwell, which is Wednesday at 7 p.m. on Pomerantz Stage.
