Article by Jayden Jones, Reporter

On Wednesday October 17 at 3 p.m. AQ Student Senate convened in JLH 215.

Senators first heard from Kevin Kwiatkowski of Campus Safety, who provided a review of the new app, AppArmor, and updates about the recent installation of six new light poles across campus, the process of implementing crosswalks for Sturrus over Fulton St. and JLH to Browne Center over Woodward St. Two senators raised concerns about the downed tree blocking the path from AB to the Our Lady of Wisdom Chapel and of the nonfunctional outdoor lights across campus, which are supposed to be checked regularly by Campus Safety.

Next, Nick Davidson was invited to update Senate on the potential transition of Aquinas College from NAIA to NCAA. Davidson informed Senate that a study had been conducted to weight the pros and cons of the transition. Takeaways from this study include concerns that the college would lose 15-20% of athletes over 4 years, lose significant revenue, and struggle to motivate coaches who have already expressed opposition to an NCAA transition. A Feasibility Study to assess the chances that the NCAA transition would be truly beneficial to the college after the time necessary for it to be implemented would be costly, as consultants would need to be brought in. Overall, Davidson expressed that he believed it would be more beneficial for the college to focus on discovering its full potential as an NAIA school as opposed to transitioning to the NCAA.

Senate Chair, Nicole Jarvis, Junior, introduced the new Marketing Director, Emmy Ryder, and discussed the details of the upcoming Senate Retreat, meetings with the Board of Trustees to occur over Fall Break, and an upcoming event called Inclusion First, which will cultivate a discussion about inclusion in the church and religious communities.

The Vice Chair, Secretary, Budget Director, Academic Affairs Director were then called forth to discuss various issues ranging from getting clorox wipes for the Regina weight room, revisions made to the Senate Handbook on the attendance policy, and the allocation of funds for various RSOs. Senate Advisor, Allie Markland of Student Leadership & Engagement reminded senators to make the most out of their time in Student Senate, stressing, “You get out of it what you put into it.”

The discussion then turned to class updates and concerns, and several Class Representatives brought up ideas for a clothing swap, advertising the many services of the Medical Clinic/Health Center, and making the midterm grade reports more useful for students.

The last order of business was to vote on the budgets for two RSOs. Catholic Student Fellowship was awarded $13,800 to use towards attending the SEEK conference in January and POLIS/Econ Club was awarded $9,527 for a 4 day trip to New York City.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:52 p.m.