“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)”
—Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”

As the senate convened last night, there was a new face at the table: freshman Rohini Bhatia, who agreed to replace impeached senator Chisoba Umesi. Although we don’t remember her ever being sworn in, she received a warm welcome. NOW HOW LONG BEFORE THE HIVE IS RE-UPDATED? (February.)

SAAC Master FLACK! said that with no pressing requests pending, the treasury is taking a break this week. But UR Kendo got a little over $211 for new equipment, and the Class Councils will not be getting a new copier, because then everyone else will want one. COPYCATS!

In Communications News, Sen. Harry Brookstein noted that Sen. April Hu is working on a “publicity-type thing” that will “do stuff” for “those people, ‘ya know?” Two of those quotes are made up, for the record.

In Policy and Review news, the committee granted Engineers Without Borders preliminary status and approved the creation of a Biodiesel Sub-Committee under Engineers for a Sustainable World, which the Senate later approved in new business.

Projects and Services revealed that the taxi program is being finalized; meal plans will stay the same for a while; Strenger wants IT to get more Apple adapters for computer-television hook-ups; Thanksgiving shuttles aren’t going to the train station because there hasn’t been enough use; and Sen. Sneha Rath solicited ideas for how to improve the Multimedia Library. Sen. Shubho Bhattacharyya (“Bott-a-char-ee-uh”) explained the benefits of a RapidShare account, which would be a legal way to share movies. But it’s also European, so, yeah, no thanks. ‘UH-MERRRR-ICA.

The Senate heard an appeal by UR Consultants Club to override P&R’s decision not to grant the club preliminary status. The group’s president, KEY student Gemma Sole, answered questions for over 20 minutes in an effort to get two-thirds of the Senate on her side. In discussion, it didn’t take more than Sen. Dennis Nave’s comments that the club had other, better options to explore, to see where the motion was going. That didn’t stop anyone else from repeating the same idea, but eventually, no, the override failed. NEXT TIME, HIRE A CONSULTANT?

To round out new business, Sen. Jon Junig moved to elect another senator to fill Steering Committee’s recent vacancy. And the real fun began. If you can get a copy of the meeting’s audio from Deputy Speaker Dan Cohn, do it. We can’t do this justice.

After Junig motioned, Brookstein tacked on a motion tabling Junig’s motion, because he wanted to wait a week. Back-and-forth ensued. Junig rescinded his motion, but then Brookstein re-motioned to reconsider, and at some point Speaker Hughes yelled out “I’m so confused!” and we didn’t blame her. Apparently, Steering Committee had recommended not waiting to fill the vacancy, which Brookstein had apparently forgotten in the 24 hours since Steering had met.

When the dust settled, the motion went forward and only Bhatia and Strenger were running. Strenger went first and ran on the platform that he just wanted to know all of what the SA was doing. To this, Cohn brought up that Steering was open to anyone, which Strenger (Communications Deputy Chairperson) didn’t know, as he had misunderstood Hughes’ description of Steering. He then wanted to know if attendance also merited him the ability to talk at Steering. Back-and-forth among the entire senate ensued, and Hughes (who runs Steering) said she didn’t know the policy on who could talk (in Steering). Nor did anyone else know (in the Senate, many of them having sat on Steering). The motion halted, tabled for a week so that the senate could figure out its rules (probably in Steering). To her credit, Bhatia came back in the room and even appeared to want to come back next week. MOTION TO RECONSIDER?

These are the meetings that remind us why we don’t want to go to bed by 9 p.m. every Monday. So that’s something else for which to be thankful.

Adjourned!