Florida A&M University’s Student Senate held their second session meeting Monday evening on Zoom as they discussed committee updates, student government updates and elections for the fall semester.
Senators will be creating virtual office hours as they adapt to the new remote learning system that has taken place — hours will be posted on the SGA’s Instagram.
Each committee chair gave an update on how their committees were developing and what they planned to work on during the semester. The Judicial and Rules committee selected sophomore Senator Zachary Bell, to serve as the vice-chairman for the school year.
“I am overly excited to serve as the Judicial and Rules committee vice-chairman, after serving in the committee last year, I had the opportunity to learn a lot about the SGA documents and how to be an effective senator,” Bell said.
Senator Kameron Mackey, a newly elected junior senator, was sworn in by Trustee Xavier McClinton, officially making him a senator of the senate.
Trustee McClinton came during the Executive Branch report and shared that a Sexual Misconduct Ad Hoc committee had been made. The First Year Experience (FYE) will be doing a “Sexual Misconduct Seminar” on Sept. 8 at 6 p.m.
The Appointed Chief Justice Titilayo Okuma reported to the senate that the court does not have a quorum to meet and carry out their specified branch functions. The quorum for the Student Supreme Court is only five justices.
There were nine confirmations for the Electoral Commission, eight candidates for precinct supervisors and one deputy electoral commissioner. All candidates passed and the Electoral Commission is now full and ready to function for Fall Elections.
Along with the confirmations, the Electoral Commissioner then presented the 2020 Fall Elections schedule, along with the Election Point system. Declaration of Candidacy will begin on Sept. 14 and the Candidates Meeting will take place on Sept. 20. There were no major changes made to the point violations, or point system, but the minor point violations system had a few edits done, to properly include the virtual campaign.
“I am very excited for the upcoming fall elections,” Electoral Commissioner Ryanne Taylor said.
Throughout the meeting, senators experienced some minor technical issues and Senate President Shanel Brown will be taking necessary precautions, to ensure that all senators can effectively be a part of the next meeting.
“We want to make sure everyone has a strong internet connection prior to the beginning of the senate meeting, by checking everyone’s Wi-Fi stability. “We’re trying to be understanding and adaptable with the new environment we’re forced to work in, but progress will be made over time,” Brown said.