The Student Senate meeting started at 6:02 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 13, in the Dakota Ballroom in Davies Student Center. 

The meeting began with a presentation from Kristin Fitzsimmons, the director of university centers, and Michael St. Ores, the event coordinator.

Fitzsimmons and St. Ores gave a presentation on the W.R. Davies Student Center, their goals and their success. Some of their goals included getting to know the Davies community better and understanding the data on student engagement.

“We are the heart of the campus community,” Fitzsimmons said when talking about the student center. 

Fitzsimmons said one of her biggest goals for Davies is to be recognized as the best student center in the country. 

After the presentation, the senate moved into opening reports. 

Vice President Zach Cardille said some motivational reminders for the senate body. This included staying connected with students, fostering healthy debate and keeping the bigger picture in mind. 

Siena Emerson, director of the Academic Affairs Commission, and Ally Etzler, director of Intergovernmental Affairs, both mentioned the discussion of Act 15. The purpose of this act is to ensure the transferability of all credits of core general education courses between Universities of Wisconsin. 

Alexander Chirigos, the housing coordinator, touched on some of the new priorities he has after the passing of 69-B-1 from last week’s student senate meeting. 

After announcements, they moved on to old business. 

Old business included the reintroduction of 69-B-2, which is the fiscal year 2025 organized activity year-end balance appeals. Isabelle Shepard, director of the Finance Commission, gave a quick summary of what this bill entails. 

After the summary, the floor was open for questions. Senator Emerson asked if this is the first year that music has been appealed for funds. Shepard said it is the first year in a while that they have had a year-end balance.

Emerson then asked a question about whether it was normal for the group of students that they were representing to appeal this late. 

“There was nothing in the bylaws that restricted late appeals,” Shepard said, “But we plan to add something to the bylaws regarding this.” 

After questions, there was a chance for a speaker’s list, to which Emerson offered her support to vote up the bill. 

Emerson said she “appreciates the consideration for the amendment and prevention for something to happen so late in the year,” as it did with the music appeal. 

Senate held a vote on the amendment that was newly added to the bill regarding the allocation of funds to music. This amendment was voted 25-0-3, which means the amendment passed. 

After passing this amendment, they moved into voting for the overall bill of 69-B-2. This resulted in 26-0-2, so the bill was passed. 

After exhausting old business, they moved into new business, which included the introduction of 69-B-3. This bill is the special allocation for the Student Senate: General Operations. 

Shepard introduced this bill to the student senate body as a request to fund position pay increases in accordance with tuition increases per the student senate bylaws for the 2026 fiscal year. 

The bill will be reintroduced next week and will most likely be voted on as well. 

After exhausting new business, a few closing announcements were made. 

The senate adjourned at 7:14 p.m. and will reconvene next at 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 20 in the Dakota Ballroom. 

Trnka can be reached at [email protected].