Student Senate had its annual Senate-ween on Oct. 20. The meeting featured a presentation on Title IX, the passing of several finance bills and a vote on who wore the best Halloween costume.
The Senate-ween celebrations were met with competition ranging from dinosaur heads to Tiger Woods to a ranch bottle to Captain America.
Indecision echoed over who to choose as winner, but the costumes that came out on top were a medieval duo, Harry Styles, Audrey Hepburn and senators dressed as other Student Senate officials.
Erin Foote, a fourth-year studying political science and philosophy, began the meeting with a presentation on Title IX, a civil rights law that prohibits sexual discrimination.
“I feel like it’s one of those terms we hear, but we don’t really know,” Foote said. “It’s like a slang term when you’re an old person. … So, what it is, it’s part of the educational amendments of 1972, and it’s only 32 words. They become super influential. Essentially, what we’re getting here is removing educational descrimination under the executive branch in the Department of Education on the basis of sex.”
Foote asked for the senate to curate a bill amending Title IX that would add responsibility to the board of governors of the University of North Carolina System to enforce campus-wide surveys every four years to increase data on sexual misconduct across institutions. The data collected from the surveys would ultimately be used to create policies and provide resources to increase safety across North Carolina college campuses.
“The data helps us understand, ‘Is there a lack of reporting,’ and then, ‘What can we do,’ shaping policies specifically, [like] more educational awareness for these offices, if there is a high rate of [sexual misconduct] happening, trying to find ways to deter it on campus, things like that.” Foote said. “And like I mentioned in my presentation, this is meant to be the baby step towards creating a committee or something akin to that under the board of governors so that we can have specific data and then make policy recommendations.”
During the second reading of legislation, several finance bills, as well as a government bill, were all passed unanimously.
FB 54 Bangladesh Student Association Reimbursement Act – Unanimously Passed
The Bangladesh Student Association made a request for $1,459 for the purpose of speaker fees, cultural instruments, decorations, expenses and cultural events for the organization. The Bangladesh Student Association was reimbursed up to $1,459.
FB 55 Men’s Ultimate Club Allocation Act – Unanimously Passed
The Men’s Ultimate Club requested $2,000 for the funding of hotel fees, jerseys, bid/membership fees and flights to its national competition. The Men’s Ultimate Club was allocated $2,000 for hotel fees and flights.
FB 56 DanceLife Allocation Act – Unanimously Passed
DanceLife requested $600 for the purpose of funding its Winter Concert. DanceLife was allocated $600 to help cover venue expenses.
FB 57 Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc Allocation Act – Unanimously Passed
The Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc requested $550 for the purpose of funding programs, new member presentations, a March of Dimes fundraiser, leadership conference, performance fees and membership fees. The Zeta Phi Beta Sorority was given $550 for funding programs and new member presentations.
GB 61 Receipt Definition Update Act – Unanimously Passed
The Receipt Definition Update Act suggests that Student Government should amend the Student Body Statutes to have a standard definition of “receipts” in a way that is consistent with NC State University’s definition.
The updated definition in Chapter 5, Article 5, includes the inclusion of the merchant name and address, date of purchase, itemized description of item(s) purchased, quantity of each item and unit price, shipping charges and ship-to address, if applicable, and total amount of purchase.
