This week, Texas A&M Student Senate motioned to remove the Legislative Relations Chair, approved a new resolution to accommodate student workers and swore in two new chairs in to fill caucus leader vacancies.
The 75th Session of the Student Senate began the spring semester with high tensions following a failed motion to remove first-term Legislative Relations Chair Patrick Englehart, Off-Campus Caucus. At approximately 7:47 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25, the senate entered into an executive session to further discuss the proposed motion to enter a vote of no confidence against Englehart; all non-Student Government Association members were escorted out of the room to allow debate among the senate members.
Later in the meeting, Freshman Caucus senator Barrett Brown and Freshman Caucus senator Riley James Pritzlaff proposed a resolution to advocate for easier course registration.
S.R. 75-16, titled Support for Improving Class Registration, proposes the elimination of certain requirements for student workers’ early registration. As of now, student workers can apply for early course registration only if they work 12 hours per week, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
Students who work hours after 5 p.m., disqualifying them for early registration, may find that classes necessary for graduation take place during their working hours. In those cases, student workers may face delayed graduation due to current limitations, Brown said.
“Classes are offered outside of those time slots that can be necessary for graduation,” Brown said.
The new resolution proposed the senate’s support for removing the 12-hour requirement. S.R. 75-16 was unanimously approved by all senators.
Vacant caucus positions were filled, with Senator Corbitt Armstrong swearing into the Off Campus Residency position and Lizzy Yoon into the College of Sciences caucus.
As the meeting concluded, speaker of the senate Tyler Smith announced his intentions to establish a “faculty bootcamp,” or an orientation for new faculty members to become adequately acquainted with A&M history and traditions.
Smith also relayed developments to add A&M traditions to the official campus-wide Canvas calendar. This decision will hopefully encourage more students to attend these traditional events, further cultivating the campus culture and uniting the student body.
