The Student Senate held their weekly meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 18, at 6 pm in the Senate Chambers at the Student Union. The meeting included a presentation by the Segregated University Fee Allocation Committee (SUFAC) as well as a presentation by La Crosse City Council Member, Patrick Brever. The Resolution to Condemn the Dehumanizing of Diversity Organization Members Through Faculty Assignments was also introduced during the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, Brever introduced some new policies that were introduced to and passed by the La Crosse City Council including Acknowledgment of Climate Change, a historic building losing its historic land title, Leaving Vehicles on Idle policies, and a continued discussion on paid on-street parking. The acknowledgment of climate change and vehicles on idle policies have not been passed yet, according to Brever.

Following Brever, representatives of SUFAC took the spotlight and introduced what SUFAC does, as well as what has been going on with the organization. For those of you who don’t know, SUFAC is a student-run organization that determines where the segregated fees from your tuition are spent on campus. SUFAC meets on every Monday at 5:30 pm in the Student Senate Chambers located in the Student Union if you would like to be more informed.

The Resolution to Condemn the Dehumanizing of Diversity Organization Members through Faculty Assignments was introduced to the Senate by Pride Center Senator Dani Kallis, which spoke against the use of diversity organizations and members as class credit. Kallis expressed disappointment and frustration with faculty for what Kallis calls dehumanizing acts against the diverse populations on campus.

This new resolution was introduced during Wednesday’s meeting and will be voted on next week. Student Body President Jacob Schimmel commented on this resolution saying, “We’re not trying to generalize faculty here, but rather trying to send a strong message to those few faculty that are choosing to continue to put their students in a bad situation.”

Schimmel commented further saying, “The students they send really have no idea what’s going on and they get in these situations and are intruding upon people’s privacy, especially for folks that are dealing with their own identity.”

The Student Senate is also working on solidifying the Violence Prevention position here on campus. “We are one of the few campuses that have that type of position and an office backing Ingrid Peterson, who’s in charge of that position,” Schimmel stated. “It’s something that isn’t mandated to have and we thought it would be really nice to solidify that position here on campus.

Schimmel mentioned afterward that they are hoping to hear back on that legislation when it gets voted on sometime next spring.

If you missed this week’s meeting and want to learn more about what the Student Senate does and what they are working on right now, Schimmel says, “Go to the Facebook page for updates as to what we are thinking and what we’re doing. Otherwise, check out the President’s video update that Lauren and I do weekly as well as keeping tabs on our website for more information.”