By Walter Hickey
The Student Assembly had its second meeting of the semester Tuesday night, and quickly got down to business.
Senators reporting on behalf of the Finance Committee said that they are planning to spend money again. In contrast, last year’s crop of senators emphasized fiscal restraint.
Vice President Molly Bulman ’12 provided an update of the Executive branch. She discussed upcoming freshman election interest meetings, vacant 2012 Treasurer and Secretary positions and the final phase of the Deep Roots campaign in October.
Deep Roots is a student government effort with the Office of Community Engagement and Scholarship to expand student involvement in the Williamsburg community. It will culminate with participants bringing and planting trees to replace those that were lost during the recent hurricane.
“It’s a great opportunity to get students out in the community planting those trees,” Bulman said.
After a reminder from Chairman Noah Kim ’12 on the rules of order, the legislative portion started.
The first half of this session involved the approval of nominees for various positions in the Executive branch, with Dallen McNerney ’14 reporting on the opinions and recommendations that his committee had developed after vetting the candidates.
Danielle Waltrip ’14 was approved for the position of Undersecretary of Public Affairs to Williamsburg by unanimous consent.
Keenan Kelly ’14 was approved for the position of Undersecretary of Public Affairs to Richmond by unanimous consent. He said he hopes he can build the internship by working with the overseer of the Road to Richmond program, government Professor John McGlennon.
Also approved was Brianna May ’12 for the position of Secretary of Diversity Initiatives.
“[I want to] fix the mess that was last year,” she said.
May said she plans to kick off that effort at next weekend’s 5k Race. She was approved by unanimous consent.
Zann Issacson ’13 was quickly approved for her second term as the Secretary of Student Rights.
The Senate then moved to approvals of the Honor and Student Conduct Council Appeals Board nominees. Four out of five were approved, including Dan Smith ’12, international student So-Jung Youn, Chris Stanton ’11 and Kate Skochdopole ’14.
“Cases as consequential as the Honor Code deserved a second look,” Smith said.
Youn mentioned the trouble some international students have understanding the Student Conduct Code, and said she would bring her unique perspective on the issue to the appeals board.
The code “doesn’t translate culturally a lot of the time,” she said.
Jake Douglas ‘14 was the only nominee not approved.
Before the end of the meeting, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Mark Constantine informed the SA that a Facebook group was publicizing the wrong date for the upcoming student Busch Gardens Day. The correct day is Sept. 30.
Sen. Chase Koontz ’14 of the Outreach Committee informed the SA that flyers had been posted for the Sept. 11 memorial ceremony, which took place Sunday in the Wren Courtyard.
Kim implored the senators to assist in the SA’s voter registration effort, and also indicated that SA representatives would be meeting with the Williamsburg Planning Commission on Sept. 21 on the student use of housing, business development, and transportation.
