With three hits of the gavel, Deputy Speaker Dan Cohn brought the new SA Senate to order. Speaker Kierstin Hughes, abroad in London, rang in via Internet video to greet the new senators.

FLACK ATTACK! New SA Treasurer Andrew Flack took the floor to report some unspent funds, which isn’t very noteworthy, except FLACK ATTACK just sounds really fantastic.

THE SINGLE BIGGEST MISTAKE DINING COULD MAKE: Possibly halting table service at the Meliora Restaurant, switching it to a buffet style. Students gave vocal opposition at the last Dining Committee meeting, and that’s wonderful. Not shutting this idea down now would probably be one of the greatest failures the SA could commit. Treason!

SEN. GEWIRTZ CAME BACK. CTQ won its bet.

CONSTITUTION PARTY, AND WE’LL BRING THE CAKE: Stingers Trombone Ensemble and UR Simulation Gaming Association received approval of constitutional changes. The Brain and Cognitive Sciences Council also received approval for constitutional changes, and also gave former SA Presidential Candidate Andrew Richardson the chance to finally visit the Senate for the first time.

JAI HO! ROC the Raas finally became an SA-recognized group, and Slavic Club became SA funded.

CONFIRMED APPOINTMENTS (IN QUICKTIME):
1. Kevin Ewer: SAAC Accountant
2. Jillian Alcee: Executive Aide to Comm. Comm.
3. Kristian Brooks: Policy and Review Chair
4. Bradley Halpern and Alissa Brill: Projects and Services Co-Chairs
5. Sumya Hasan: Executive Aide to Comm. Comm., and Elections Chair
6. Trey Socash and Jesse Cramer: Fill Fauver/Pack the Palestra Coordinators
7. Ben Pollack: Experience Eastman Coordinator
8. Megan Dewitt (“Do-it”): SA Sustainability Coordinator

THE CELL PHONE SAYS IT’S 11 P.M. and the agenda has two issues left: the appointment of Harry Brookstein as chair of the Communications Committee, and the appointment of Scott Strenger as his deputy chair. Surely this will fly by in no time. But guess again.

COOL HAND LUKE aspirant Sen. Brookstein has caught on to that it isn’t good when a Communications Committee has nothing to report. And he acknowledged his shortcomings on that. After some questioning, Sen. Guerra motioned for executive session, with Sen. Gonzalez seconding. Secrets!

AFTER RETURNING, we in the peanut gallery (comprised of former Speaker Harrell Kirstein, former Dep. Speaker Alvin Lomibao, Dewitt and CTQ) learned Brookstein passed muster, but that left the contentious vote over having a deputy chair, if Strenger could be that deputy chair and if it was up to the Senate to approve Strenger as deputy chair.

PRIMARY CHARACTERS: Sen. Dennis Nave, SA President Eric Weissmann and Kirstein.

Nave contended that the vote constituted a waste of time — that he appointed former Sen. Naik to be his deputy without approval. Weissmann contended the year before that Kirstein had been confirmed as deputy when Gewirtz chaired Projects. Nave contended back that the new precedent had been set when Kirstein didn’t make Nave’s choice get approved. Kirstein contended that was because Nave was impossible to deal with when set on something.

HOW THE DEBATE SHOULD HAVE GONE, THUS SAVING US 20 MINUTES:

According to Article IV, Section 1.A.3. of the Senate Bylaws:

Appointments: An individual is chosen for a particular position by the President or a committee chairperson, and then is confirmed by a majority vote of the Senate.

Nave should have known this, and Kirstein should have enforced it last year. Both made errors that ended up adding time to an already long meeting.

The Senate resolved the issue by demanding a vote, and Strenger got approved. (Shoutout to Cohn for correcting CTQ on this — things tend to meld together late at night.)

BREAK OUT THE EARTH, WIND AND FIRE: CTQ will be kicking it old school for the next few months, and looks forward to a fresh and feisty assembly in the fall, and the addition of freshman senators. It also looks forward to taking on “Rocky’s Report,” which will hopefully not be renamed, thus ensuring CTQ’s dominance.

Adjourned!