On Wednesday, Sept. 7, student senators voted to confirm 13 new appointees and passed a budgeting bill for the current fiscal year. One appointee in particular was debated and questioned.
With no comments from the general student body, each officer and Student Government Delegation read their reports which can be found in the agenda.
After reports were read, Miles Calzini, a graduate student in chemistry and student senate president, called the 13 senate appointees to the front to introduce themselves. The first introduction and the most debated was Lewis Stepp, a first-year studying education and senator for the College of Education. In his introduction, Stepp said he is a “fan of any type of leadership that lets [him] be the center of attention.”
Other appointees included Drew Rudman, Harshal Vala, Vanadeep Kaluvagunta, Chazzlyn Jackson, William Caleb Twigg, Raymond Villalobos, Nathan Gomez, Evan Martino, Karla Vicente, Hiral Patel, Nathan Passey, Bliss Pointer, Liliana Trigilio, Lanadia Adams, Ronni Johnson and Camryn Kline.
After introductions, the appointees were sent out of the room while the senators discussed. Stepp’s comment was at the forefront of the discussion.
Margaret Baker, a graduate student in communication and a senator for the Graduate and Lifelong Education delegation, was appointed at the last meeting. She said she did not approve of Stepp’s joke.
“He is not the kind of person I would want representing me at any level of government, at any time,” Baker said.
Senator Jackson Lods, a fourth-year studying chemical engineering and senator for College of Engineering and Sciences, said the comment was uncalled for.
“If [he’s] going to tell jokes as the way one would introduce themselves I think that demonstrates a lack of maturity,” Lods said.
As a member of the College of Education, Stepp would be filling the last senate seat for that college. Bradley Quinn, a third-year studying education and political science and senator for the College of Education, was asked if he would like to share any thoughts on the matter. Quinn said he hoped Stepp would be appointed because he could tell Stepp had a desire to be involved in student government.
“I definitely think this person should be appointed to Senate because he seems eager and we don’t know how he feels or if he actually means what he said versus a joke,” Quinn said. “I’m more than happy to take him under my wing.”
After the discussion amongst the senators, Stepp was brought in for further questioning. Senator Ryan Polk, a first-year studying engineering and senator for the College of Engineering, asked Stepp how he would respond if the Student Senate decided not to appoint him.
“My response would be, ‘Thank you for your time, and I will find as many opportunities as I can to be involved in the Wolfpack community,’” Stepp said.
Stepp was sent out of the room again as the Senate conducted their final debate over his appointment. Some senators still firmly opposed his appointment, but Student Body President McKenzy Heavlin, a graduate student in electrical engineering, student body president and chief executive officer, said he supported appointing Stepp.
“He has been the only person to come up to me multiple times in a context that wasn’t Student Government (to ask about getting involved),” Heavlin said. “I would encourage the body to consider if you really want to ding someone who has shown up, gone through an application process and has come to confirmation because we have gotten multiple people to the point of confirmation, and they just don’t show up. Showing up is half the battle with this, and he’s shown up multiple times.”
Heavlin was the last to speak before the vote and Stepp was confirmed 22-7, respectively.
All 13 appointees were confirmed. The meeting then moved on to BB-01 for Budgeting Unbudgeted Funds.
According to Student Body Treasurer Harrison Andrews, a fourth-year studying communication and political science, each student pays a $14.20 fee every year which goes to Student Government. Any funds Student Government doesn’t use or appropriate to clubs or student organizations goes into a cash reserve. Clubs and organizations request money from Student Government to be appropriated to them, called appropriations.
Reserve money cannot be spent unless it is moved into the budget for the current year. If any time money is moved from the reserve, 40% of the amount must be allocated to appropriations. The reserve must have at least $30,000 in it, but right now NC State is well beyond that limit at around $300,000. Unspent money from last year added roughly $61,000 to the reserve. BB-01 initially would move $50,000 from the reserve into the budget for this year with 100% being allocated to appropriations, but during the meeting, Andrews motioned to make that amount $60,000 instead.
“Our cash reserve right now is a lot larger than the minimum value,” Andrews said. “In my opinion it’s not wise practice to let that build up.”
This motion and BB-01 passed unanimously including votes of the 13 newly appointed senators.
GB-29, the Executive Branch Clarification Act, was also passed by consent and amends the student body charter with some minor vernacular changes for discussing the executive branch in the charter such as referring to Chairs as Directors instead and Commissions as Departments instead. GB-29 was passed unanimously.
