Public Comment
Several students attended the meeting and raised questions during the public comment period directed at Associate Vice President for Public Safety Cliff Everton ’96.
Ryan Flannigan ’26 asked about the possibility of false positives of the Flock firearm detection system.
“So I’m hoping that this technology has a lot of safeguards against false positives, because there are a lot of re-enactors in the area,” Flannigan said.
Everton did not directly answer any questions from the public.
Special Business
Everton described the College of William and Mary’s choice to utilize FlockOS and ZeroEyes around campus, two AI-powered surveillance tools, as a proactive approach to public safety.
Everton emphasized maintaining transparency and building trust between the administration and students.
“I think I’ve heard that historically, there has been trust between William and Mary and WMPD,” Everton said.
Everton said that the two software programs do not pose a threat to student privacy and are in accordance with federal and state laws. He said that neither stores data for more than 21 days and that the College has not and will not cooperate with federal law enforcement agencies.
Everton also said that the College would not take any action to fulfill the results of a recent referendum, where students overwhelmingly called on the College to cancel its membership with Flock surveillance.
Everton spoke and answered questions for around an hour before Chair of the Senate Sen. Mayer Tawfik ’27 abruptly ended the discussion. Sen. Danny Otten ’23 Ph.D. ’27 introduced a motion to continue debate to extend Everton’s time. The motion failed.
Following the failure of Otten’s motion, Everton did not answer any further questions and left the meeting.
Secretary of University Policy & Student Rights Georgia Horgan ’27 promoted sexual assault awareness month, which started April 1. She explained how Student Assembly would partner with The Haven, Someone You Know and Let’s Get Consensual at W&M to host several events related to sexual violence prevention and education throughout the month.
Horgan noted that Friday, April 10, is Take Back the Night, an event that aims to uplift the voices of survivors of sexual violence.
“The best way we can fuel movement on our advocacy related to Title IX and sexual violence prevention is by showing up on Friday, April 10, to show your support,” Horgan said.
Chair of Finance Sen. Mackenna Wyckoff ’28 presented the budget for fiscal year 2027. The total allocated revenue from the Student Activities Fee — a fee of $98 charged to every full-time student — for the fiscal year is $776,748. $102,000 will be allocated to SA to fund various initiatives, and $177,766.50 will be allocated to the Organization Budget Allocation Committee. The allocated funds to SA by the College decreased by $9,000 from the previous fiscal year.
New Business
Sen. Jenny Wang ’29, Sen. Neha Baskar ’29, class of 2029 President Daria Lesmerises ’29 and Wyckoff introduced the Busch Gardens Day Act. The bill, if passed, will bring back Busch Gardens Day, which last took place in 2019. This event gives students, faculty and staff a discounted rate on tickets to the amusement park. Their proposed date for this year’s Busch Gardens Day is Friday, Sept. 25.
The bill focuses on providing transportation to the park and ticketing. If passed, SA will allocate $3,000 to charter Oleta coach buses, which would run continuously back and forth from the park to campus. It will also allocate $1,500 for transaction fees to support Student Leadership Development in operating the online ticketing platform.
Tawfik introduced the Closing of the 333rd Session Act. The bill closes the current session of SA to allow for the opening of the 334th session, stipulating that all passed, past and pending bills be moved to the next session.
Old Business
Senators passed the Pride Month Act, sponsored by class of 2027 President Nico Giro-Martin ’27 and secretary of the senate Sen. Nina Argel ’28. The bill allocates $1,355 to fund Queer Prom, an event among many others taking place in April when the campus will celebrate LGBTQ+ pride.
