The third Student Senate meeting of the 97th session, and the first of the semester, took place Wednesday night.

At the top of the meeting, Student Body President Jackie Gonzalez gave a legislative update and discussed House Bill 527, also known as the Campus Free Speech Bill.

President Gonzalez reassured the room that there “was nothing to worry about” concerning the bill in its current state.

In an interview with Technician following the meeting, Gonzalez further clarified these comments. 

“This bill has changed since its inception and can still change, so I rely on my team and Sarah Stone to keep a track on legislation that might directly affect our community,” Gonzalez said.  

Gonzalez also made it clear that NC State Student Government does not have any immediate plans to respond to the bill.

“I don’t think SG has any plans right now to respond to stuff like that it was more so things to keep on watch in case we do have to relay that information to our constituents,” Gonzalez said. “But as of right now, the bill could be changed, so tomorrow they might choose to write it into something else that I either might or might not agree with.”

Following Gonzalez’s legislative update, Student Body Treasurer John Taylor Willis, Student Chief Justice Jess Errico and Student Body Vice President Mia Connell also made remarks.

Towards the end of the meeting, Associate Communications Director Tate Cohen was appointed to the position of communications director without any debate.

Cohen discussed what her goals as communications director would be during the fall semester.

“My goal here is really to be as transparent as possible and I want to work really hard to build our follower base on social media,” Tate said. “An idea that we have is sending out an inter-SG student newsletter.” 

Student Senator Andy Lam* was appointed to the position of senator for the College of Education, after a unanimous vote in his favor.  

During remarks made to the senate about why he considers himself to a good fit as a senator, Lamb mentioned wanting to reach out to transfer students.

“I am currently majoring in education with a concentration in chemistry, and I am a transfer student from UNCW,” Lamb said. “Not only do I want to work with the College of Education, I do want to work with transfer students as well.” 

Student Senators Molly Mueller and Lauren Siegel were appointed to the positions of senate parliamentarian and senate webmaster without debate. 

The meeting concluded with the newly appointed senators taking the oath of office, as well as brief commentary from other student senators.

Prior to the meeting, Connell discussed her goals for the fall semester.

“Since it’s the fall and it is the beginning of the year, a lot of our focus is outreach to the incoming students and making sure they get inundated within Student Government as soon as possible, so that they can become familiar with our processes and so that we can get fresh and new ideas within all of our branches,” Connell said. “It’s a new year and a good opportunity to help people become familiar with Student Government and what we can do for them.”

Gonzalez also discussed bridging the divide between the university’s administrators and the student body. 

“I think one of the things I’m going to be doing tonight is relaying information that I’ve heard from administrators over the summer and I that’s what I’m going to continue to be doing throughout the school year whether it be [information] from university council meetings or board of trustees meetings,” Gonzalez said. “I’m trying to send out a summary of what happened in each of these meetings as they happen to make sure that administrators are being held accountable.”

Editors note: This article originally misspelled Lam’s name. It was corrected on August 17 at 2:58 p.m.