The EIU student senate held their final meeting this semester in Room 1895 in the Martin Luther King Jr. Union on Wednesday where end-of-year speeches were given and those newly elected into student government positions were sworn in. 

Before being officially elected as speaker of the senate, Megan Fox answered questions about her plans for being speaker. 

“I want to see us become an organization that people can turn to when there’s a problem on campus,” she said.  

Fox wants to expand the use of social media for student government. 

“I want to have different things posted,” Fox said. “Different legislation updates, getting to know executive board, getting to know our senators; all that kind of stuff.” 

Fox wants to work to retain members within the student senate.  

“I think recruitment is very important, but retention is even more important,” Fox said. “Once you guys get here, I think that people see how wonderful of an organization this is.” 

Former Speaker of the Senate Madison Veatch gave the “State of the Senate” address. 

“If I [could] describe this semester in one word it would be ‘lively,’” Veatch said. 

Veatch talked about the visits from different people within the organization as examples of the lively semester.  

“We’ve heard a lot of information from a lot of different people,” Veatch said. “While doing all this throughout the semester, we as an organization were able to carry out many wonderful events.” 

Veatch went on to thank various student government committees for their work with various events. 

 The University Enhancement committee was praised for planning and working Safety Week, which happened from March 31-April 4.  

The Business Affairs committee was thanked for their work with student fees and its financial literacy series. 

The Diversity Affairs committee was praised for its work in planning events with EIU Pride and DEI Week. 

The Student Affairs committee was also praised for its work during DEI and for its events with the Black Student Union. 

The Academic Affairs committee’s work for the Life After College Series of events was also praised by Veatch. 

The Internal Affairs committee was thanked for planning events within student government to help with morale.  

Veatch said that one committee, External Relations, was unable to do as much as she wanted. 

“The External Relations committee—to be frank—sat vacant a lot of the semester. I worked to keep planning afloat, but the semester got away from me,” Veatch said. 

Alumni Relations was praised for its work in bringing former EIU student government members to talk to the senate. 

Veatch finished her speech by thanking everyone involved in student government. 

“Congratulations to our next executive board and our newly elected senators. You will do great,” Veatch said. “Thank you everyone for your hard work this semester.” 

Former Student Body President Taylor Cloud gave the “State of the University” address.  

“This semester has certainly been a busy one, but so many wonderful things have come out of it,” Cloud said. “That is something you should all be proud of.” 

Cloud praised the student senate for its work in passing budget resolutions and for all the events that they helped with. 

“While our year has had some ups and downs, every one of you should be proud of all that we as an organization and as a university have managed,” Cloud said. 

Jason Coulombe can be reached at 581-2812 or at jmcoulombe@eiu.edu.