FAMU senators listen while students give their reports on recent trips and projects.
Monday evenings, Florida A&M University Student Government Association senate meeting was nothing short of enlightening.
Senate President Rakeem Ford, started the meeting, held in the Senate Chambers, at approximately 6:35 p.m., on Apr. 16. Quorum was barely reached causing a delay. Senators cannot successfully hold a meeting when quorum is not met if there are not enough senators present. Student senators did however jump right in to discuss any matters that needed to be taken care of once it was reached.
Senate meetings are held every Monday at 6:00 p.m. in the Senate Chambers.
Because the semester is coming to an end, many SGA committees are wrapping up assignments causing them to have little to discuss.
SGA Vice-President, Dajuh Sawyer, a senior business administration student, was in attendance to discuss what students should look forward to in the last three weeks of the semester.
Tuesday, Apr. 17, SGA hosted a Faculty Senate Meeting in Lee Hall from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. “This is something that has never been done before. We will be discussing different things that involve the university when it comes to curriculum, the handbook, and different things the university president has on his agenda. It is revolved around students, so it is about you all,” said Sawyer.
Johnika Moss, M.B.A student, deputy of Athletic Affairs was present with Sawyer to discuss the new ventures by FAMUs Athletic Department. We have decided to use Eventbrite (a technology platform used to create, share, and sell event tickets online) as a new way to track and sell game day tickets instead of traditionally using the Rattler Card. All students are encouraged to sign up on Eventbrite for the Orange & Green Game on Saturday, Apr. 21, 2018 at noon.
“Is there a reason why we are using Eventbrite instead of our Rattler Cards?” asked Senator Andy Jean-Baptiste, a sophomore journalism student. “While I was in the meeting, they said it was because during some games other students would lend their non-student friends their Rattler Cards to get admission. Eventbrite is way to hopefully stop that from continuing to happening,” said Moss.
Monday night’s meeting was filled with special guest. Reverend Dr. R. B. Holmes of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church was also in attendance to invite student’s student to the Millennials Rising march taking place on Apr. 26, 2018.
“The purpose of this march, is to work to restore the voting rights for former felons. We planned this march a month ago to pressure the government to do the right thing for former prisoners. This is all to give those prisoners back their civil and voting rights. If we vote ‘yes’ for amendment 4, during the next election we can get those rights back for 1.6 million former felons. That is huge,” said Reverend Dr. Holmes. FAMU students are encouraged to come out and march alongside many civil rights activist and leaders including Rev. Al Sharpton and the Tallahassee community.
The meeting continued with great news from agricultural students who attended the annual MANRRS (Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Science) conference on Apr. 4-7, 2018 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Students who participated came to the meeting to thank the senators for allocating the funds for them to go on trip. Dylan Jackson, sophomore agricultural student, spoke about his time at the conference. “The conference overall was a great experience. We all learned so many things that we can take with us into our futures,” said Jackson. MANNRS is a non-profit organization used to promote agricultural sciences and related fields in a positive manner for ethnic minorities.
Students are encouraged to come out every Monday at 6:00 p.m. in the Senate Chambers to discuss any concerns students may have regarding the university. The last senate meeting of the semester is subject to held next Monday, Apr. 23, 2018.