The first meeting of the ASCSU Senate started a bit unconventionally. Due to the renovation of the Lory Student Center, the previous senate chambers are being updated and the group was relocated to the Behavioral Science building.

One of the setbacks of being in a different location than in years past was the fact that they did not have an American flag to pledge allegiance to. However this was not an issue for Senate; a makeshift flag was projected onto the screen in front and the meeting was underway.

During the election of Senate leadership, three senators were nominated by their peers for the following positions: Internal Affairs, University Issues and External Affairs.

The Senators nominated to fulfill the task at hand were Taylor Watson with Internal Affairs, Kwon Yearby with University Issues, and Lexi Evans with External Affairs. After a vote from the members, the decision was made that those nominated were fit to fill their respective titles.

The next major order of business on the agenda was the ratification and swearing in of two new members, Senators Christy Burris and Jake Christensen.

“Every year ASCSU takes people down to the capital to show them around and get a feel for what the actual government is like.” Regarding her newly appointed position, Burris commented, “I think it’s a good way to get involved.”

As a math major, Burris was in high demand and is the only current senator with the College of Natural Science. “They told me to go to my council because its really underrepresented,” Burris said.

The judicial reports were presented and it was made evident that two new associate justices and one liaison were needed if any of the senators were interested.

After the time was given for Senator reports, Associate Senator reports, and Executive reports, old business from within the Senate was taken care of.

The main topic of consideration was Resolution 4301, which changed the wording in the Senate’s bylaws. It was revised so that bills and resolutions were to be submitted to parliamentarian, speaker pro tempore, and the speaker of the Senate by 5:00 p.m. on Fridays.

Samantha Scotti, a prospective Senate member attended the meeting with her friend and fellow prospective senator Jacquie Altman. Sitting in the gallery, Scotti and Altman viewed their first senate meeting to see what was included in being a member of the CSU Senate.

“I’m interested in getting involved, possibly for a senate seat. I wanted to check out the procedures and how it worked.” Scotti said.

The two were extremely interested in the inner workings of the Senate and how their weekly meetings were conducted. After the meeting, Scotti and Altman were excited about their possible future with ASCSU Senate.

“It was amazing how involved everyone is. Everyone really cares about the issues and they go over every little detail which is something that you want in your school’s senate” Altman said.

At the end of the meeting, the Senate members who had birthdays over the summer were brought up to the front of the room to stand on chairs and proceeded to be serenaded by a self proclaimed “off-key” rendition of the Happy Birthday song.

Collegian reporter Lauren Rullman can be reached at news@collegian.com