The Student Senate approved the appointment of five senators and three senate officers at the first Senate meeting of the fall semester on Aug. 24. After some debate, the Senate also voted to appoint two first-year senators to their respective college delegations, although 10 first-year seats will be available in the upcoming fall election.
The Senate deliberated over whether to appoint Ryan Polk, a first-year in the college of engineering, and James Boyd, a first-year studying biological and agricultural engineering technology, to the College of Engineering delegation and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences delegation, respectively. Miles Calzini, a doctoral student in chemistry and the Student Senate president, said typically, first-year students are elected in the fall election to fill first-year senator positions, but technically the Senate can appoint first-year students to other delegations.
College of Natural Resources Sen. Allison Markert, a second-year studying natural resources, said she opposed appointing first-year students to the Senate before the fall election.
“The process of the first-year seats is not just [voting], it’s also for their protection and letting them switch around between different prospective majors,” Markert said. “I think that if we were to immediately put them into one certain grouping when they just got here on campus, I just think that’s wrong. I also think it kind of deflates the value of the first-year election that so many people have gone through and so many people are interested in doing.”
College of Engineering Sen. Hilton Stallworth, a fourth-year studying mechanical engineering and the Student Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, said appointing Polk and Boyd would allow more first-year students to join the Senate.
“Just my mindset of it all, I would say my thesis statement is, the more the merrier,” Stallworth said. “I know there’s precedent of going through the elections first, which I am in support of, however, since the two senators in question are going for delegation seats — one of which is heavily empty with a few filling it and one that still has open seats left — this would then leave more room for the first-year delegation to be filled, allowing for even more senators to come in.”
The Senate ultimately voted to appoint Polk and Boyd, with 16 affirmative votes and 11 negative votes.
The Senate unanimously voted to appoint three students to vacant Senate seats with 27 affirmative votes and zero negative votes. Grayson Stocks, a fourth-year studying business administration and political science, was appointed to a seat in the Poole College of Management delegation. Edward Siameh, a graduate student in accounting, and Margaret Baker, a doctoral candidate studying communications, rhetoric and digital media, were both appointed to seats in the Graduate and Lifelong Education delegation.
Although there are 12 available Senate seats in the Graduate and Lifelong Education delegation, currently, 10 are vacant. Baker said she feels graduate students are underrepresented and is eager to serve as a voice for her peers.
“We have thousands of graduate students on this campus who are super underrepresented at the institutional level, and I think there’s a real opportunity to connect our graduate students to the campus,” Baker said. “We are from all over the world, and we’re serving you at NC State, we’re teaching you, we’re engaged with you, but we’re often really disconnected from the campus, so I think there’s a real opportunity to try to connect the graduate student population to the campus.”
The Senate confirmed the resignation of Mark Farbman, a Graduate and Lifelong Education senator, and Nonso Ayalogu, a Poole College of Management senator.
Finally, the Senate appointed three students to Student Senate officer positions. College of Sciences Sen. Nathaniel Somma, a second-year studying statistics and political science, was appointed as parliamentarian. College of Humanities and Social Sciences Sen. Nina Kudlak, a third-year studying political science and parks, recreation and tourism management, was appointed as press secretary. Wilson College of Textiles Sen. Stephen McGuinness, a third-year studying biological sciences and polymer and color chemistry, was appointed as webmaster.
Maria Echeverry Montano, a third-year studying criminology and chair of the Board of Elections, gave a report regarding the fall election and student government involvement fair. Echeverry Montano said 39 students indicated interest in joining SG at the involvement fair.
“That’s really exciting to see so much interest in student government, especially because a lot of those were first-years,” Echeverry Montano said. “Whether they come into Senate or whether they go into [the executive branch] or both, because that’s always an option, it’s really cool to see that many people being that interested in student government.”
Student Senate meetings are open to the public, and the next meeting will be held on Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Talley 4140.
