MEET THE FIRST-YEAR SENATORS
To kick off this week’s SGA meeting, President Jaelen Harris introduced the new first-year senators, including Senator Zoey Adama, Senator Danae Barkocy, Senator Steven Cox, Senator Emily Baggett, and Senator Dany Nguyen. These first-year senators were introduced to the rest of the SGA members and given a brief overview about how meetings work.
CLIMATE CHECK
Senator Donya Ahmadi raised a question about Zoom burnout and what professors were to do if the majority of their class was failing due to the difficulties of the pandemic and general feelings of anxiety that prevented them from learning as they did pre-pandemic. Though professors have mostly transitioned their classes online, Senator Ahmadi was curious about how these classes and their course work would be more accessible to students who aren’t learning as much as they would otherwise. President Harris responded to Senator Ahmadi by referring to the work of sociology professor Sarah Beth Kaufman and her work with student Rachel Kaufman on making pass/fail classes more readily accessible for students in the spring.
ROCKY HORROR FUNDING REQUEST
Senior and director of this year’s Rocky Horror Picture Show, Rachel Morris, presented a funding request for the Trinity University Players Society (TUPS) to the members of SGA. Vice President, Oliver Chapin-Eiserloh reminded first years that funding requests over the amount of $1,500 are to be voted on by everyone, and that amounts can be approved in full or partially, depending on whether or not the total amount request is justified.
Morris emphasized the importance of putting on one of the only in-person events the theatre department is hosting this year. She mentioned that there were 5 cast members and 4 production team members. Their rehearsals are outdoors and the theatre group has been split up into four different bubbles to make contact tracing easier. Morris noted that the people working on this production are either roommates, suitemates, close friends, or romantic partners. Their total funding request includes $850 to gain the rights to produce Rocky Horror, and $600 to pay the TUPD officers who will be attending the event to make sure that those in attendance are following social distancing guidelines. The amount of $1,600 was approved for TUPS to use on their production of Rocky Horror.
LGBTQ+ SAFETY ON CAMPUS
Junior Steven Murphy Drake presented on the importance of normalizing pronouns in the classroom. He also discussed hopes for an expansion on the gender-inclusive hall that will be located near the first-year residence halls. Currently, the gender-inclusive hall is not available for first-year students.
