BLAKELY HEATON | STAFF REPORTER
bnheaton@butler.edu
The 2015-2016 Butler University Student Government Association Senate is complete after appointing vacant positions. The Senate had its first meeting Oct. 7 at 6 p.m.
Some senator positions were left vacant, causing a delay in the Senate’s start this year. The SGA Cabinet was responsible for the nine appointments, which consisted of one position in the College of Communication, one in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, three in the College of Business, two in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, one in the Residential College and one senior off-campus position.
Katelyn Sussli, SGA president, said the organization interviewed people for appointments based on prior interest and recommendations.
“We reached out to those that had shown interest and had missed the deadline, those who had ran for previous senator positions and any other interests and recommendations we had received,” Sussli said.
The SGA Cabinet looked for people who know what is expected of the senators and is highly motivated.
“We were looking for candidates that had a good understanding of the senator position and a lot self-initiative behind them” Sussli said. “The Cabinet asked questions regarding what the senator’s plans were for the year, specifically, outreach events to connect with constituents.”
Sussli happily noted the amount of diversity in the Senate.
“I”m very pleased to say that we have a high level of diversity in the senate in terms of grade level, major, involvement, experiences and organizations,” Sussli said. “So we have a really strong group of leaders who I think are going to be able to provide very strong and unique perspectives that will make the Senate very successful this year.”
The Senate will hold meetings Wednesday nights at 6 p.m. every week, with the exception of the week of fall break. Every other meeting the SGA Student Initiatives Board will attend the Senate meetings to collaborate.The Student Initiatives Board is a sector of SGA that serves as a bridge between students and the administration to make changes to campus. Once a month there will be a concerned students forum, where all students can attend and voice any concerns they have. With exception to the time set aside for the concerned students forum, the Senate meetings will be closed to students.
“We will set aside probably a half hour at the end of the meeting that Wednesday for the concerned student forum,” Sussli said.
Sussli said eventually she hopes the meetings will be held in Atherton Union room 326 regularly.
“It went really well, there was a lot of good feedback and almost everyone was in attendance,” Brooks Berrodin, one of the College of Business senators, said. “It was good for everyone to get to know each other. We are all really excited and have a lot of opinions and ideas.”
The Senate has proved to be an exciting way for first-year students to take on leadership roles, as well.
“This is a great way to get involved with more of the entire student body and SGA, rather than just being a part of Ross Hall,” Anastasia Kokkas, one of the Ross Hall senators, said. She said hopes to install a suggestion box for her constituents and start a newsletter with her co-senator, Kennedy Harris.
The SGA Cabinet and Senate are excited for the upcoming year.
“I’m very happy with the senators that we have in place and they’re very excited as well,” Sussli said. “We’ve been talking about this so long that it is going to be really exciting to get it up and running.”
Photos courtesy of Amy Street, Collegian Photographer
