The 55th Student Senate held its ninth session of the spring semester, in the senate chambers presenting four new bills.
During committee reports, Judicial and Rules Chairwoman Nissa Phillip shared that the Elections Reform Committee will begin meeting to assess the success of the spring campaign season.
This committee is composed of the current and newly elected Electoral Commissioners, the Elections and Appointments Committee chairperson, the Attorney General, a member of the Judicial and Rules Committee, three to five students appointed by the SGA President, and one member from each branch.
After committee reports, the Florida A&M University Aquatics Department presented during speakers and a lobbying forum.
This presentation highlighted the department’s needs as they work to rebuild the damage caused by the tornado that hit Tallahassee in May of 2024.
The swimming pool on campus has been dormant for the semester as the department works to resolve these issues and relaunch the services of the Aquatics Department, including swim and water aerobics classes, as well as a new initiative for “Dive-In Movie Nights.”
“We would like to become a premier HBCU water facility, enhancing the lives of FAMU students, faculty, and staff,” shared Dr. Dion Jerry, Director of FAMU Aquatics.
Following the Aquatics Department’s presentation, the elections for the new Senate President and Senate Pro-Tempore commenced.
Senator Bracelet and Senator Stuckey gave presentations expressing their platforms and the change they hope to bring to the Student Senate.
The candidates for Senate President were Organization and Finance Committee Chairwoman Nikyah Brown and Organization and Finance Committee Vice-Chairman Jonathan McClover.
To learn more about their presentations, read here.
The 2025-2026 Senate President is Chairwoman Nikyah Brown, and the Senate Pro-Tempore is Chairwoman Ta’Mya Bracelet.
Following the Senate elections, four new bills were presented.
The first bill, “Monthly Recognition Initiative,” was written by freshman student Sarah Wilson and sponsored by Freshman Senator Harmony Person.
This resolution bill aims to encourage the Senate to use its social media pages to observe holidays and awareness campaigns such as Hispanic Heritage Month and Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The Senate received the bill and will begin the review process.
The second bill, “First Generation Recognition,” was also written by freshman student Sarah Wilson and sponsored by Freshman Senator Harmony Person.
This resolution bill aims to encourage the Senate to hold events and on-campus initiatives to support and provide community for first-generation college students.
The bill states, “The implementation of this bill will foster a more inclusive and supportive campus environment, prioritizing the unique needs of all students.”
The Senate received the bill and will begin the review process.
The third bill, “Campus Activity Board Cabinet Members,” was written by Freshman Class Vice President Beyonce Williams and sponsored by Freshman Senator Harmony Person.
This resolution bill aims to combat the challenge that Campus Activities Board [CAB] leaders have faced when filling their class cabinets to plan events.
“There were over a hundred people that applied, and we had to break it down into 12 people,” Vice President Beyonce Williams said. “And so, it was challenging, not going to lie, because there were really good candidates for each position.”
“In our class specifically, we have 1,600 kids. 12 kids do not represent the 1,600 that we have.” Senator Person expressed.
Senator Person also mentioned the influx of freshman students posting on social media, sharing their issues with the student experience and their plans to transfer after their first semester.
“I do feel that if we had better representation and more different demographics within our representation, then that wouldn’t be happening,” Person said.
The final bill, “Timely Transition,” was written by Freshman Class Vice President Beyonce Williams and sponsored by Freshman Senator Harmony Person.
Vice President Williams shared that she and her President were not contacted to begin working in CAB until about a month after the elections, and were not able to start holding official CAB events until the spring.
This bill will require the Freshman Class President and Vice President to be sworn in no later than one week after the announcement of their election results, and the upperclassman elects to be sworn in prior to the commencement of their terms.
Elections and Appointments Committee Chairwoman Zuri Sims argued that this bill may be unconstitutional and Chairwoman Nissa Phillip said this will be further investigated in the committee review.
The Senate will meet again on Monday, March 24th, to continue the annual budget.