In the Associated Student Body’s first senate assembly of the semester on Tuesday, Feb. 7, eight open senate seats were filled and two bills were unanimously passed.
Larson Looney, Rachel Young, Jeremy Gauthier, Sean Boney, Lars Andersen, Nicholas Masella, McKay Orwig and Ryleigh Anne Felty all won seats and joined the main body. A total of 27 students competed for the senate seats by giving a short speech in front of the assembly before the senate debated and voted on which students to accept.
Felty, a sophomore English education major, plans to encourage drug overdose preparedness on campus to save lives.
“I would like to advocate for required Narcan training for all leaders in student organizations. I feel it is vitally important because of the rising number of drug overdoses across campus,” Felty said.
Boney is a sophomore political science and writing and rhetoric major who proposed several “life upgrades” he wants to enact on campus.
“Mold in a lot of the older dorms — that should be fixed. I feel like we can do better with wheelchair accessibility with a lot of the buildings around campus. Sexual health products being sold in the pods and quickly accessible to freshmen in dorms would also be a valuable addition to this campus,” Boney said.
Senate Bill 22-18
The first bill, SB 22-18, outlined a revision to the ASB code to allow for the chair of the Governmental Operations Committee to serve as defense counsel for candidates brought to stand trial for campaign violations during campus-wide elections.
The bill passed unanimously.
Senate Bill 23-1
The second bill, SB 23-1, added a new official requirement for elected homecoming queen and homecoming king.
In addition to having 60 completed course hours and a minimum 3.0 GPA, homecoming royalty are now, as the bill reads, “encouraged to work in collaboration with the ASB Principal of Philanthropy to serve in the Lafayette-Oxford-University community.”
Current homecoming queen and senior journalism and writing and rhetoric major Eliza Peters co-authored the bill.
“I really believe in the power of being in the big four, Mr. and Miss Ole Miss and homecoming king and queen, and the opportunities you have to grow and reach more people in our community,” Peters said. “I think it’s really important that we dive in where we are and be present where your feet are.”
The bill passed unanimously.
