STORY BY COLE NORUM
Student Senate met in Cowles Library on Sept. 18, passing unanimously Resolution SS 140918-C, or the Senate 60: an ambitious list of objectives and measures the senators expect will provide for continued engagement with the student body.
President David Maxwell was in attendance, discussing the academic, economic and cultural challenges higher-educational institutions face and the commitment to students Drake University has made in facing those challenges. President Maxwell also commented on the impressive scope of the Senate 60.
“Drake University has four goals. You have 60,” Maxwell said, referencing the four extensive objectives outlined in Drake’s Strategic Plan 2013-2017.
The Senate 60 is in response to feedback from a survey compiled by Student Body President Joey Gale, Vice President of Student Life Josh Duden and their fellow student senators. Distributed in early August, the survey aimed to determine students’ interest in and perspectives on topics regarding student life, both campus and academic. Those aspects contribute to what Gale has emphasized is the “Drake experience.”
“How can we make it better? It’s really almost a segway to what (the students) are asking to what we should be doing,” Gale said.
The Senate also compiments Drake’s own vision of bettering the “quality of the student experience.”
“There are some real points of connection … (The Senate 60) really connects well to the many objectives and strategic goals of the University,” President Maxwell said.
The Student Senate also passed unanimously an allocation of $9,000 grant to fund a group of nine Drake students to attend The Model Arab League Conference.
The grant will fund the students lodging and transportation from Chicago to Cairo, Egypt this November.
The weeklong conference allows students the opportunity to simulate parliamentary procedure, acting as diplomats of Arab League nations while working with students from around the world on a multitude of issues.
Olivia O’Hea, junior law, politics and society and public relations double major and a member of the Drake delegation to Cairo, understands the importance of this.
“It’s not like a study abroad, or even a J-Term, where you go just to visit and maybe take one or two courses,” O’Hea said. “This is five days that are completely packed schedules: full debates, dialogues and conferences.”
O’Hea is also the academic affairs senator. She abstained from voting on the allocation to comply with Senate bylaws regarding conflicts of interest.
Students with exceptional work in the department of politics and international relations are selected each fall to travel with Professor Mahmoud Hamad of the international relations department to Model Arab League conferences.
In the past several years, Drake delegations have competed in conferences in Boston and Little Rock, Arkansas and have won several awards.
Emily Grimm, a senior politics major, spoke to the Senate Session before their unanimous vote about what the international conference meant to Drake.
“This opportunity gives Drake huge credibility in terms of foreign collegiate relations,” Grimm said. “It’s an extremely prestigious opportunity.”
The weeklong conference allows students the opportunity to simulate parliamentary procedure, acting as diplomats of Arab League nations while working with students from around the world on a multitude of issues.
Olivia O’Hea, junior law, politics and society and public relations double major and a member of
