The Student Senate met for its second special session of the week Wednesday night.
The meeting was spent hearing parting words from most of the outgoing SGA leadership, including outgoing Student Body President Amy Sharp, Chief Justice Corbin Neumann, and Speaker of the 71st Student Senate Mitch Parker, as well as the various Senate committee chairs.
Reflecting on his time in student government, Neumann emphasized the importance of keeping true to the Aggie Core Values.
“Keep up with doing what’s right,” Neuman told the senators. “Being honest and earnest. Forgetting about yourself — being self forgetful. Being selfless. There’s a reason that’s one of our values.”
The meeting of the 71st session was immediately followed by a meeting of the 72nd session, which will represent the study body during the 2019-2020 school year.
Senators received a briefing from senior research engineer Tim Lomax of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute on the Thursday football game scheduled for Aug. 29 and some of the changes they plan on implementing based on experience from the Thursday game day last semester. Information on transport issues on Football Thursday 2019 is available at http://transport.tamu.edu/Parking/events/footballthursday.aspx.
The remainder of the session was spent confirming various positions within the Student Government Association.
Off-Campus Residences Senator Suyash Gupta and College of Science Senator Bobby Dow were confirmed into the Senate Operations Committee by unanimous consent.
Afterwards, the various nominees for the SGA Executive cabinet were given an opportunity to speak and preview the ways in which they may enrich those positions if confirmed. In addition, the nominees fielded questions from Senators on different issues relevant to the positions.
All six of the cabinet candidates who spoke on the senate floor were confirmed by voice vote and subsequently sworn in. They were:
- Vice President of Student Services: Jake Traylor
- Vice President of University Committees: Alexandra Jaillet
- Development Commissioner: Cale Soudelier
- Vice President of Academic Affairs: Sven Lohse
- Election Commissioner: Jacob Schaffer
- Vice President of Tradition Enrichment: Chipper Adams
Gregory Cross, Trey Elizondo and Natalie Parks were confirmed the night before to the positions of Vice President of Legislative Relations, Diversity Commissioner, and Vice President of Communication respectively. All SGA Executive Cabinet positions are now filled with the exception of the Vice President of Municipal Affairs position, which remains vacant after computer science junior Aden Muhammad was unable to attain the two-thirds vote necessary for confirmation.
Incoming Student Body President Mikey Jaillet said that the candidates that were approved on Wednesday and Tuesday were able to demonstrate their impeccable qualifications as well as the commitment that they will bring to their roles in the coming year.
“I truly believe that these confirmations went really well,” Jaillet said. “The quality of people that we have serving in these roles is better than I ever thought would be possible. And it really shows off how incredible our student body is.”
The chairs of the various Senate caucuses were also selected by the respective caucus members and sworn in.
The position of Vice President of Municipal Affairs will be voted on next semester after Jaillet submits a new nomination.
“We will reopen applications most likely in the fall for that position,” Jaillet said.
The Senate also voted on and passed the “Support for Sri Lanka Resolution” — introduced by Student Services Chair Regan McGuill — expressing solidarity with the victims of the recent Sri Lanka Easter bombings.
“The Texas A&M Student Senate supports and offers condolences to the people of Sri Lanka and those impacted by these attacks,” McGuill read from the resolution. “The Texas A&M Student Senate condemns these terrorist attacks on churches, restaurants and hotels in an attempt to hurt innocent people, many in the act of worship, and the Texas A&M Student Senate continues to support the freedom of all religions and an end to international violence.”
Without other business, the 72nd Senate closed out their last meeting of the Spring semester shortly after 10:30 p.m. The Senate will reconvene on Sept. 4.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Senate Pro Tempore Connor Hull and On-Campus Residences Senator Jett Black had been confirmed at this meeting. The article has since been corrected.