By Nolan Ostrowski, Senate Reporter
On April 2, Student Senate met for their penultimate meeting of the spring semester.
The meeting was called to order by Chair Grant Bricking at noon. To begin, Grant briefly introduced the University of Detroit Mercy representative, Sienna Murphy. UDM partners with Aquinas for its nursing program.
After this, sophomore representative Mitchell Chrapek brought up an incident Campus Safety emailed everyone about on March 28. The incident involved an unknown and uninvited person entering a student’s dorm in Regina hall because the door was unlocked. Senior representative Chase Haggerty said that there had been multiple such incidents in Regina recently and that they all involved a combination of the front door being propped open and residents leaving their personal doors unlocked at night. He further clarified that Campus Safety is doing daily door checks to ensure resident safety and that this was a very serious topic. Grant concluded the topic by bringing up the idea of cameras being installed in dorm halls, which had been brought up in previous meetings, and emphasized that residents should lock their doors.
Then junior representative Evan Bennett discussed a conversation he had with Mike Ingram, Director of Campus Ministry, on the 14-part Stations of the Cross devotion outside of Regina Hall, which is currently in a dilapidated state. There was an idea to get some new parts to restore it, which would cost around $1900. Mike said that he does not mind spending that money, but thinks that repairs should be second priority if the money could be used for something better. Grant said he was comfortable with Mike presenting that idea to Senate. Evan then brought up a Red Flag forum that was submitted about what is going to be done if ICE shows up on campus. It was clarified that Sister Maureen is working on a document that is going to be sent out about the topic.
Then Vice Chair Kate Kramm talked for a bit about the Senate’s budget for the remainder of the year, which is $52,000, plus a rollover of $100,000 from last year. After this there was brief discussion on replacing the chairs on the deck of the Moose and increasing student activity by placing tables and chairs all over campus, including by Donelly and Wege Pond. Senate voted to allocate between $27,000-$30,000 to facilities for this project.
Academic Affairs Director Taylor Moss then gave a presentation on the executive board positions that are opening up for Senate next year, giving everyone information on each position and how to run for them. After this Grant showed everyone some of the changes made to the bylaws before pivoting to the student feedback form that Senate is preparing. He showed the outline to the senate and asked anyone if they had suggestions for changes or improvements.
With all topics of discussion exhausted, the meeting was adjourned by Grant at 1:12 p.m.
The Saint 