When issues as significant as the EMU Referendum and its postponement are considered, some other agenda items have to be left by the wayside, even if those matters would be headline news on any other Wednesday night. But these matters are important to students, and deserve to be noted. Here’s what didn’t make the headlines from this week’s Senate meeting:
*- Catherine Bruske was confirmed to Senate Seat 9, filling the last empty seat on the Department Finance Committee. Bruske’s confirmation came right before the second EMU discussion, and was achieved by a unanimous vote.
“I have been on this campus for six weeks, but in that time I’ve done a lot to bring myself up to speed on those issues,” said Bruske, a transfer student from the University of Montana.
Bruske said that her relative detachment from the issues of the day would be an advantage.
“I have in some ways more of an advantage in being able to think objectively about these issues.”
*- Senators approved a resolution on student free speech, including students camping as a form of speech. The resolution was spurred by, but did not directly mention, Occupy Eugene’s presence on campus a few weeks ago.
The resolution stated that the Senate would “support University students exercising their rights to free speech,”
After addressing concerns of the scope of the resolution’s application and whether it would apply to student government elections, the resolution was approved with one nay vote.
*- Senators also unanimously voted in favor of a resolution addressing changes to the University’s policy on mandatory reporting of sexual assaults. Emerald Crime and Safety Reporter Becky Metrick will have a more detailed story on that soon.
* – Senate also approved a $7,630 special request for University theater to send 25 students to a theater conference in Kansas, as well as a $500 request for send a member of the National Association for Music Educators to a conference.