As the Illinois Student Senate embarks on a new year, the focus this semester will be how they can better help the student body, senators said.
“The biggest challenge we will face this year is our loss of a core of dedicated senators,” said Ryan Young, vice president-external. “However, what we have lost in institutional knowledge we have made up for in enthusiasm, which has just as many positives.”
Senators said this year they will strive for the inclusion of voices from student organizations on campus.
“Communication is our focus. We have to go out and talk to constituents more and really listen and implement their ideas and concerns,” Young said. “It is most important to know that if anyone wants to share concerns with the senate, they are more than welcome to come to our meetings.”
One issue that senators are looking to address is the endorsement of changes to academic integrity policies on campus, which surfaced following a cheating incident involving Facebook last semester.
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“No progress on this subject has been made yet. At this time, we need more conversation with the students and with the faculty on the topic before we can go forward,” said Renée Romano, vice chancellor for student affairs. “We want to make sure that our rules on academic integrity are up to speed with respect to the internet and all the changes that have taken place with technology over the years.”
Recently elected student body president Brock Gebhardt said the executive board is ready for the new year.
“In the new year, we will have a class of just-elected student senators that all have previous experience,” he said. “I feel a sense of duty being elected to represent and work hard for over 43,000 students.”
This week was the senate’s first general meeting.
Young said he was “absolutely amazed” by the high number of senators present.
“I’m really hoping we will maintain this attendance so will can serve the student body well,” he said.
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