Senate meeting short but productive

Student Senate discussed several upcoming events, and passed two motions in a short but productive meeting Sept. 25.

On Oct. 4 and 5, the UW-Board of Regents will visit campus for the first time in six years. Senate members look forward to the visit and were urged by President Derek Brandt and Senate adviser Vicki Hajewski to take advantage of the opportunity to share their input with UW-System officials.

“They’re very interested in students and really want to know what your experience is,” Hajewksi said. “I encourage you to take advantage of that.”
More information concerning the Regents’ upcoming visit can be found at www.uwrf.edu/regents.

Nikki Shonoiki, co-director of Diversity and Women’s Issues also announced that there will be an “awareness demonstration” Sept. 28 in front of the University Center centering around Hmong genocide currently occurring in Laos. Although it will not be a political rally, the event will be held to raise student awareness, and anyone is welcome to attend, Shonoiki said.

New business opened with a motion concerning campus’ annual Family Day event. In the past, Senate has supplied a decent portion of funding for the activity and hopes to do so again. However, due to the fact that the motion has to do with finances, it will be discussed and voted on next week.

During last week’s meeting, a motion was passed to merge the Diversity Issues and Women’s Initiatives committees to create the Diversity and Women’s Initiatives committee. Shonoiki, diversity issues director, became co-director and was joined this week by Amy Bohrer, who was elected co-director by a unanimous voice vote.

A second motion was passed to appoint Cindy Bendix to the position of shared governance director.

Elections were held Tuesday and Wednesday, and the results are in:
College of Business and Economics: Josh Breyer.
At-Large: Aaron Taylor and Melody Reimer.
First-Year: Matthew Northway, Charles Guerin and Jordan Kocak.