The Student Senate passed somber pieces of legislation tonight, including resolutions honoring the 20th Anniversary of Bonfire Remembrance, Veterans Day, November Silver Taps and a resolution in support of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
First, however, the Student Senate passed a bill to implement a fall break into Texas A&M University academic calendar.
“Class would be started that Thursday and Friday of Howdy Week,” said Student Body President Mikey Jailet.
Dang Dang, off-campus caucus, and Yung-Ju (Daniel) Cheng, presented a resolution to express the Student Senate’s support for the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests.
“The Texas A&M Student Senate recognizes the importance of having the freedom of speech and expression without the fear of retaliation and censorship,” the resolution read. “The Texas A&M Student Senate sees freedom and democracy not only as American values, but rather, unalienable rights that should be enjoyed by everyone on this Earth.”
The Student Senate passed a resolution to recognize Veterans Day. The resolution read, “The 72nd Session of the Texas A&M Student Senate commemorates all Aggie Veterans across the globe acknowledging all who are currently serving and have served in the United States Armed forces.”
The Student Senate passed a resolution honoring the 20 anniversary of the Bonfire collapse, in which 12 Aggies were killed and 27 were injured. Bonfire remembrance will be held at the Bonfire Memorial on the morning of November 18th, 2019 at 2:42 am.
The Student Senate passed a resolution remembering Carlyon “Carly” Nicole Beatty and Jon Perrott, who were honored at the November 5 Silver Taps ceremony.
The Aggie Core Value Ad Hoc committee recognized two Aggies for the month of November’s Core Value Award recipients for the core value of Leadership. The first Aggie was James E. Sarran Class of 1958. When he was a sophomore cadet in 1955 at Texas A&M, he pushed two fellow cadets out of the way of a car, but was struck himself. He died in the hospital five days later.
“The Corps believes that part of leadership is humility and doing one’s duty,” said Academic Affairs Chair Tate Banks. “If this is true, we believe that James Sarran, class of ‘58, truly exemplifies what leadership is. ”
The committee also recognized Andrew Klein, the speaker of the Faculty Senate for his leadership.
“He worked extremely with the Student Body Senate,” said Off-campus Resident Senator Zach McCue. “He really goes out of his way to exemplify what leadership looks like. As a professor, he’s not required to be on the faculty senate, but he serves anyway. He’s not required to work with us, but he does anyway.”
Student services Chair Regan McGuill and Academic Affairs Chair Tate Banks presented a resolution calling on the university to mandate at least one “brick-and-mortar” class option for online classes.
The Student Senate also passed a resolution recognizing the responses they received when they asked students to give their opinions on overall health on campus for students through their Ag Input form.
“Student Senate appreciates and values the opinions of our constituents,” the resolution read. “Student Senate would like to continually recognize these opinions and ideals of the constituents the Student Senate represents.”
The Student Senate also passed a resolution issuing condolences to Texas A&M Commerce students injured in a shooting last month.
The Student Senate passed a resolution acknowledging and supporting the Student Affairs Fee Advisory Board’s fiscal year 2021, which was presented at the October 30, 2019 Student Senate Session.