The Student Senate did not meet quorum at their meeting on Wednesday, meaning that this was the first unofficial meeting of the school year.

At the meeting, there were 13 total senators. In order to meet quorum, the senate needs 15 senators to be present at the meeting.

Because the meeting was unofficial, the consent agenda could not be approved. The consent agenda is one of the things the senate must approve prior to moving to approving registered student organizations, RSOs, budget presentations and approvals and more.

If the meeting was official, Jasmine Yusef, the speaker of the senate, and student senator James Haddon would have been appointed to the student publication board and student senator Allie Painter would have been appointed to the Interpersonal Violence Awareness Team.

Since the consent agenda could not be approved, the meeting moved to committee reports.

Yusef said that the senate is in need of filling three positions.

The senate is first looking for senators. Senators are required to hold two office hours a week, be on a singular committee that has bi-weekly meetings and attend the weekly Student Senate meeting in the Arcola-Tuscola room on Wednesdays at 7 p.m.

The senate is also looking for a secretary. 

The secretary records the minutes, takes the role call and leads voting within the senate.

“We are looking for committed individuals who are able to commit to Student Government and come to the meetings,” Yusef said. “They’re required to fulfill their two office hour requirements and make efforts in being the student representatives, student voices for the EIU student body. After that, we are also looking for a secretary. This is a paid position. (It is) $12 an hour with a minimum of two office hours a week. The secretary essentially does our minutes for the meeting, synthesizes them and sends them out.”

Finally, the senate is looking for a graphic designer. 

The graphic designer is also required to hold two office hours a week and paid $12 an hour.

“(The) graphic designer is a position that would mainly take care of our marketing and potentially our social media for Student Government,” Yusef said. “They would be in charge of creating flyers and handling social media for Student Government events and programs Student Government creates.”

Brianna Hull-Dennis, the vice president for student affairs, discussed the RSOs event log, which is a log that lets RSOs know what rooms are available at what times for when they are trying to plan events for their organization. 

There is no organization log available at the moment, which Hull-Dennis said makes it hard for other organizations, such as other ones that she is in, to plan events, especially if they do not know what rooms are taken.

There will not be a Student Senate meeting next week. 

Instead of the meeting, there will be a student life social in the bowling alley from 5 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 5.

This is between the University Board, Latin American Student Organization, the Black Student Union and Student Government.

Katja Benz can be reached at 581-2812 or at kbenz@eiu.edu.