The most recent meeting for Student Senate saw many members teary-eyed as they delivered their final speeches of the 69th session before some would leave the senate for good.
The first of these speeches came from Kaitlyn Hevrin, who spoke on joining the senate after struggling to adjust to UW-Eau Claire.
“I told myself it was senate or bust,” Hevrin said.
Hevrin said that despite her fears about the senate, she pushed through and encouraged others to face theirs.
Hevrin was followed by Vice President Zach Cardille, who opened his speech with an anecdote about listening to Bon Iver to reminisce about Eau Claire before discussing his beginnings in the senate, which left him with a lot of doubt.
“The first few weeks of this session — getting our agenda established, setting the tone of the year — were the hardest I’ve experienced mentally in any role I’ve held here,” Cardille said.
Cardille went on to thank those who had helped him during his time in the senate.
“Everybody in this room has impacted my journey, and I’m proud of the work this body has done,” Cardille said. “There are many of you who have known each other only a short time, or I barely even know you, yet I feel that we’ve connected like we’re lifelong friends.”
A common theme in the speeches was thanking those who helped them during their time on the senate, as well as teary eyes and apologetic statements for speeches being too long.
The only speaker to yield their time to report was Housing Coordinator Alex Chirigos, who mentioned he had recently been voted “Most Likely to Yield their Report” before doing so.
Next, newly-elected President Isabelle Shepard and Vice President Tia Bierne were sworn in by their predecessors.
After each was sworn in, their first action was resigning the previous person to their position. Both Cardille and Hevrin gathered their things before vacating their seats.
Shepard’s first action as student senate president was to swear in the three new members who had been waiting in the back of the room.
The newly appointed senators were Soley Crist, Halee Daniel and Aminta Ndiaye, who took their seats in the senate once sworn in.
The senate then addressed the new business of the 70th session by bringing up 70-R-1: In Support of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy.
Information Technologies Commission Director Jack Hagen explained there was currently no AI policy on campus, and creating this policy incorporated feedback from a student survey.
“The three points in this resolution are: 1) The students support that professors can make their own policy regarding their classes instead of the university, 2) professors are required to establish how AI can be used by both professors and students in their class and put this on the syllabus and 3) basically saying that AI can be an effective learning tool when used properly,” Hagen said.
Hagen then answered the senate’s questions, sharing that about 500 students answered the survey, being asked questions such as, “Do you think professors should use AI in their materials?”
Hagen said he hoped to implement this by next year, but there is no official timeline. This policy passed 27-0-2.
The next policy came from the Environmental and Sustainability Chair in the Residence Hall Association Iryna Levada, which was 70-R-2: In Support of Maintaining Renewable Energy Credit Program for Carbon Neutrality of the Davies Center.
Levada said this policy would be in regard to continuing the Renewable Energy Credit Program with Xcel Energy.
After questions, the policy passed 27-0-2. Going over personnel matters, three members resigned while eight more were appointed. Those who resigned were asked to leave the table.
After announcements about the upcoming Springfest activities, the meeting was adjourned.
Curtin can be reached at [email protected].
