The Student Assembly Senate elected the senate chairman and the senate secretary of the 323rd session and introduced the Closing of Session Act during its first meeting Tuesday evening.
Interim Chairman of the Senate Dan Ackerman ’16 nominated Sen. Seth Opoku-Yeboah ’16 for the position of Chairman of the Senate. Opoku-Yeboah declined the nomination.
Following Opoku-Yeboah’s declination, Sen. Chase Jordan ’15 nominated Ackerman for the position, who served as chair of the 322nd session.
“It’s been a pleasure serving this past year,” Ackerman said. “It’s been a real honor. I have some goals if I were to be chair again. Some of those goals that I’ve been thinking about are making members more aware of the processes and what’s going on.”
Several SA members voiced their support for Ackerman.
“Whenever I’ve needed any questions or concerns answered about anything SA related, Ackerman always has an response for me. He’s always been there,” Class of 2018 President Jose Acuna ’18 said. “I cannot think of anyone more qualified.”
Ackerman unanimously won the position. He abstained from voting.
Sen. Eboni Brown ’16 accepted the lone nomination for secretary of the senate from Jordan. Brown served as the interim secretary during Tuesday’s meeting and previously filled in as secretary during the 322nd senate session when Sen. Emily Thomas ’17 had scheduling conflicts. Brown was also the secretary of the finance committee during the 322nd session.
“Being a member of the finance committee, I saw Eboni Brown diligently take everyone’s notes and words down, which is not always an easy task to do,” Jordan said. “I think she recorded very well. I also know last year she was the historian for the senate, which also provides her expertise in the procedural position.”
Brown unanimously won the position.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Ackerman introduced the Closing of the Session Act. This bill classifies every pending bill from the 322nd session as unable to be acted upon by the senate and reclassifies ten bills from the previous session as bills of the current session.
Ackerman assigned the bill to the policy, finance, student life, outreach and public affairs committees. Senators will learn their committee assignments, based on their preferences, by Thursday evening.
During the meeting, the Senate took the time to set community expectations for the 323rd session. Expectations include respecting fellow class officers, remembering to have fun, using laptops appropriately, remembering that they represent students of the College of William and Mary and attending meetings.
Ackerman also gave a presentation about SA and its protocols during the meeting. He plans to hold a bill-writing sessions for new and returning SA members to help them improve their knowledge about writing one for the senate.
SA Vice President Catie Pinkerton ’16 asked the senate to return next week with a list of goals for the session.
Sen. John Yoest ’17 and the Graduate Council representative had excused absences. Class of 2015 President Joe Foster had an unexcused absence.
