Wednesday was a night of welcoming new changes and saying goodbye to seniors during a double Senate session.This past year’s senators held a regular session first to hear bills and resolutions. Current executive staff members gave their final executive staff report, and graduating seniors tearfully delivered their closing comments to the Senate in the final session of the semester.Senate passed a resolution supporting Biological Sciences Dean Kevin Carman’s firing of Biology 1001 Professor Dominique Homberger. Carman fired Homberger after her midterm grades showed a 75 percent failure rate.Basic Sciences Sen. Ben Clark authored the legislation, which shows SG support for Carman’s decision.”I think he did something for the students, something very important,” Clark said.Business Sen. Emily Landry debated against the resolution.”Telling people how to do their job is not integrity – it’s politics,” Landry said.But Clark said the senate’s support of Carman’s decision supports the students’ best interests.”What Dean Carman did was something that’s clearly for the students,” Clark said.During executive staff reports, former President Stuart Watkins and former Vice President Martina Scheuermann said their final words as leaders of SG.”Standing here I feel like I’m at a loss of words,” Scheuermann said. “It has been a blessing and a humbling experience.”Watkins spoke on the attention SG paid to student safety and to gathering student input.”We changed the way in which students reached out to other students,” Watkins said. President-elect and former Director of External Affairs J Hudson spoke on his work on executive staff.”Sponsorship went up to $40,000 this past year,” Hudson said. “We went to the Legislature quite a bit this summer.”Chief Financial Adviser Greg Upton also spoke about the work he and the executive staff did.”This past year we really started off trying to provide legitimacy to the voice of SG,” Upton said. Senate heard several bills which spend the remainder of funds in the Senate Contingency Fund, and it allocated $200 to the Graduate School to put on a “black and white night,” a celebration for graduating seniors.Senate also allocated $2,091.45 for business student group Students in Free Enterprise to attend a national competition in Minneapolis. The money will pay for lodging for 10 students.”We need to let the Tigers show the rest of the country what people down here can do,” said UCFY Sen. Cody Wells.During the second session, University Court justice Sean Horridge administered the oath of office to President-elect J Hudson and Vice President-elect Dani Borel and to all the newly elected senators.The new senators took their seats and debated the appointments of a new speaker of the senateThe two candidates for speaker were current Speaker Pro Tempore Brooksie Bonvillain and Arts and Sciences Sen. David Jones.Several speakers debated on behalf of Bonvillain and Jones, and senators voted for Bonvillain by silent ballot, 45-6.Senate also approved Hudson and Borel’s executive charter. Senate will reconvene Friday to elect a new speaker pro tempore and legislative staff.
__Contact Catherine Threlkeld at [email protected]