Many excited new faces stepped into the first undergraduate senate session on April 28 for their first meeting as senators.

The meeting began with a brief orientation and executive introductions from Student Body President Caroline Marcus and Student Body Vice President Anna Beth Thompson before the senate voted on executive branch appointments, senate vacancy appointments and senate executive committee nominations and appointments.

Executive branch appointments

Executive branch appointments began with a vote on the passing of presidential cabinet appointments.

The appointments passed 97-3-0, allowing for the 10 new cabinet members to be officially sworn in.

Executive cabinet appointments were then voted on, which passed unanimously. The three new members of the executive cabinet were sworn in.

Department of justice appointments were voted on next, and also passed with a unanimous vote. The two members were then sworn into their new roles.

Senate vacancy appointments, special interest seats

Many new senate vacancy and special interest seat appointments were voted on to fulfill vacant roles for the upcoming school year. With a vote of 97-0-3, the appointments passed and were sworn into office.

Senate executive committee nominations, appointments

Senate executive committee nominees were brought to the front to give a one-minute speech regarding their plans if elected into the position. These roles included head lobbyist, parliamentarian, secretary and sergeant-at-arms.

The nominees for head lobbyist included junior accounting major Alli Conkle, freshman biological sciences major Hannah Vandergaast, sophomore public policy and public affairs major Parker Huskey and freshman global studies major Cooper Chinault. 

With a vote of 52-4-29-15, the senate appointed Conkle to the position.

“I’m always curious,” Conkle said. “I want to ask questions, I want to know how to better review your legislation, because that’s what I’m really passionate about.”

The senators running for parliamentarian were junior economics major Gabriella Maitra, junior finance major Nick Wyatt and, once again, Chinault.

With a vote of 67-10-23, Maitra was appointed to the parliamentarian position to serve for her second year in the role.

“Last year, I was brand new to senate, brand new to parliamentarian,” Maitra said. “That required a little bit of a learning curve, I got a pretty good handle on it. This year … we won’t have that learning curve.”

The two nominees for secretary were Vandergaast and freshman marketing major Kelly White, who nominated herself during the session. 

With a vote of 74-26, Vandergaast was appointed to the secretary position.

“I’m super involved, super used to holding people accountable, which I think is the hidden secret within senate,” Vandergaast said.

The sergeant-at-arms nominees included junior communication studies major Avery Griffith and junior food science major Zachary Feldman, who nominated himself during the session.

With a vote of 78-22, Griffith was appointed to the role.

“I’ve had a lot of really good conversations about what it means to take on this role,” Griffith said. “The sergeant-at-arms is kind of like the programming chair for senate.” 

All newly appointed senate executive committee members were then voted on in block by the senate, which passed with a vote of 98-0-2. The members were then officially sworn in.

Committee chair appointments

A motion was made to postpone the voting on committee chair appointments to senate session two, which will take place during the first or second week of next semester.

This motion passed with a vote of 98-0-2, and the senate was adjourned for the semester.