The Associated Student Body kicked off the 2022-2023 school year with orientation Tuesday night in the union auditorium. Three senate seats remain open, waiting to be filled by eager new senators.
Vice President Alex Nabors began the two-hour inaugural meeting by welcoming the senators elected last spring. She ended the night with a reminder that three senatorial seats remain open, one never filled from the previous spring and two left by senators who resigned at the beginning of this school year. Senators represent either a registered student organization or a college, like the College of Liberal Arts.
Nabors encouraged the current senators to invite their freshmen friends and neighbors to campaign as they are, in her eyes, “underrepresented constituents in this body.”
After the meeting adjourned, Nabors told the DM she views open seat elections as an exciting opportunity not only for ASB but for the candidates as well.
“I’m hoping a lot of freshmen apply because that gets them in early and hopefully sets them up for a nice four years in ASB,” she said.
After introducing cabinet members and going over basic procedures, Anastasia Jones-Burdick led the senators through a practice piece of legislation proposing to change all the roads on campus to canals. Lively debate replaced a serious atmosphere as senators pretended to argue for or against transforming Ole Miss from the “Harvard of the South” to the “Venice of the South.”
This comical piece of the legislation aside, both cabinet members and senators are gearing up for a productive year.
Ben Salvador, president of the Graduate Student Council, addressed the crowd, expressing the desire to foster
closer collaboration between his council and ASB. He encouraged the senators to “remember to consider graduate students, that they are an important part of this community and an important part of this university as a whole.” According to Salvador, the graduate student body represents around 3,000 members of the university’s population.
Also coming up for ASB is addressing the recent water crisis in Jackson. After the meeting had officially adjourned, president Lila Osmon told the senators a project regarding the crisis will soon be fleshed out.
The latest task for the ASB is running the homecoming elections. Petitions opened Wednesday, Aug. 31, and can be found in union room J301. Available court positions include Mr. and Ms. Ole Miss, homecoming king and queen, freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior maids and 10 campus favorites.
In general, Nabors said she is hoping to amplify what is already in place and change how students view ASB.
“I’m excited about changing campus culture around ASB, getting people involved in elections, having our senators really reach their constituency, and just really increasing ASB’s presence on campus,” she said.
