Photo credit: The 54th Student Senate and their student shadows observe

The Florida A&M University 54th Student Senate met on Monday to welcome the newest freshman senators, hold a short training regarding Robert’s Rule of Order, and review the Internal Rules of Procedure (IROP). During the meeting, the senate also hosted 13 students who participated in ‘Shadow a Senator, ’ which allowed interested students to be paired with a current student senator to gain insight into how the Senate operates.

The meeting began with reports from each senate committee. The executive branch’s report included the planned events for SGA week, which began Monday with an open house and ‘Shadow a Senator.’ The report also led a discussion of SGA’s looking to partner with athletics and other entities on campus to encourage student attendance at all university sporting events. 

Student Body President Lauryn May swore in the eight newly elected freshman senators: Monquarius Williams, Jessiyah Victorin, Adora Barnes, Dallas Hill, Justice Williams, Jeremiah Martin, Khalil Orsborn, and Harmony Person.

“I chose to run for student senate because I really wanted to be the voice for the body, along with being able to give a voice to the student body [which] I do think those are two different things. I think to be a voice is to advocate but to give them a voice is to let them know that they are being listened to,” Freshman Senator Jessiyah Victorin shared.

Following the swearing-in, Elijah Hooks, a fourth-year political science scholar who previously served as a senator and is a current Democratic National Conference (DNC) Delegate and Senior Advisor of the Flordia Student Association, congratulated the newly sworn-in senators and left them with a charge as they embark on this new journey.

“Understand that there are people who look at what the Senate does and look at you guys as the voice of 9,000 or so students,” Hooks expressed “No matter what people say or what people do, don’t let people water down your power as student senators of the #1 public HBCU in America. Take in your role as a senator. Take it as an experience that you have an opportunity to change somebody’s life and atmosphere. And take every single student and their opinion seriously”

Following this, the student senate received Judicial and Rules Charwoman Nissa Phillip, who gave a presentation explaining Robert’s Rule of Order. Robert’s Rule of Order is a set of rules and procedures that ensures meetings are fair, efficient, and democratically in order. 

This served as a short training for the newly elected senators and provided context for the students who shadowed senators during the meeting. Senator Harmony Person noted during the open forum that these portions of the meeting were helpful and informative as the freshman began to “learn the ropes of the Senate.”

The Senate then reviewed the Internal Rules of Procedure, which is the governing document by which the Senate operates. Every year, the Senate discusses and votes to revise these documents as they see fit. This allowed all of the new senators an opportunity to gain a clear understanding of each position within the Senate and the responsibilities of senators and committee leaders.

Not enough senators were present after the review, meaning the Senate could not vote on the document’s approval for this academic year.

After this, Vice Chairman Johnathan McClover, A&S Liasion Connor Cooper, and Senator Khalil Orsborn presented a resolution bill titled “SGA Sponsors More Health and Wellness Initiatives.” The bill aims for SGA and CAB to partner on more events that bring out the student body, encourage them to get physically active, and lead healthy lifestyles.

“This bill ties directly to the platform points from my campaign. I noticed how overwhelming college can get when I started in Summer B. I hope that by offering more opportunities for students to relieve stress, everyone can have a balance of school and physical activity. ” Senator Orsborn stated. The bill was placed on second reading and will begin going through the various review committees.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the veteran senators pinned the new senators, officiating them as members of the legislative branch. The SGA Inauguration will be on Friday, October 25, at 5 p.m., in the Foster-Tanner Band Rehearsal Hall. The Senate will meet again on Monday, November 4, at 6 p.m.