The Associated Student Body elected four new senators, passed a bill establishing a new type of legislation and recognized Hispanic Heritage month in its first formal senate meeting of the school year on Tuesday, Sept. 24.
After 17 candidates for four open ASB Senate seats gave speeches, Zachary Rifkin, Daniel Dear, Katherine Miles and Mason Woodrick were elected.
“It’s a really exciting experience,” Zachary Rifkin, a freshman international studies and public policy major, said. “I’ve always heard so much about ASB, and I really wanted to get involved. I’m excited to be able to be a part of the organization that creates a lot of change on campus.”
ASB Secretary Braxton Dagg, a junior integrated marketing communications major, was inspired by the new senators’ willingness to put their names on the ballot.
“It takes a lot of courage and dedication to stand in front of 53 members and express why you want to be in an organization,” Dagg said. “So I have no doubt that these senators chose the right people.”
After the announcement of the new senators, the first bill, SB 24-5, introducing a new type of legislation called a proclamation, came to the floor.
In contrast to bills and resolutions, proclamations act as ceremonial statements on behalf of the ASB Senate. University-Department Sponsored Registered Student Organizations Sen. Wesley Templet, a junior public policy leadership major, authored the bill and explained how proclamations will help ASB conduct ceremonial and actionable business without conflict.
“One thing I envisioned (proclamations) doing is mentioning the students we lost over this course of a year to any accident, but we’ve gotten away from it because we wanted to stay on the actionable course,” Templet said. “(Proclamations) give us a way to do ceremonial business versus actionable business that we focus on.”
The bill passed with a unanimous vote.
ASB’s first proclamation, which followed passage of the bill, congratulated the seven University of Mississippi athletes who participated in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
ASB also recognized Hispanic Heritage Month, which spans Sep. 15-Oct. 15.
Cultural/Multicultural Sen. Brittany Bustillos, a senior public policy leadership major, spoke on the necessity of acknowledging the Hispanic community not just this month but throughout the year.
“(Hispanic) students do make up a lot of our population on campus, and I feel like as an ASB we need to recognize their struggles,” Bastios said. “Listening to Hispanic American stories is one of the most important parts of becoming culturally aware of their experiences as well as to understand how we as the ASB Senate can make an effort to ensure that our Hispanic American students will recognize them as struggles.”
The meeting concluded with senators announcing upcoming events and encouragement for all senators to register to vote. Many ASB members shared excitement for what they plan to accomplish during the semester.
Campus Equity and Advocacy Sen. Troy Christian, a sophomore multidisciplinary studies major, is eager to promote diversity and be a voice for his community.
“I’m definitely looking forward to passing a lot of legislation here, and I’m very excited for ASB to start back and to learn as well,” Christian said.
Dagg shared his enthusiasm for working with ASB again this year.
“I’m super excited to get the ball rolling,” Dagg said. “I know we have a lot of ambitions to tackle and get taken care of, but this is only the beginning. All of our members are sworn in now, so I genuinely cannot wait for everything to happen.”
Vice President Jack Jones, a junior economics major, praised the ASB senators and anticipates more collaboration within the community.
“Overall, I’m incredibly excited about this year,” Jones said. “I think this is a fantastic group of senators with great ideas and have students at the heart of everything they do.”
