At the first Senate meeting following the fall 2011 Student Union elections, 16 new senators, two associate justices and a Finance Board minority representative were sworn in.

The senate also approved Student Union President Herbie Rosen's '12 appointments of Joshua Roseman '12 to the position of director of the Office of Student Rights and Advocacy and Andrea Ortega '13 and Anthony Nguyen '14 to be co-directors of Communications. Ortega served in that position last year, and Nguyen also serves as an assistant treasurer.

The Global Medical Brigades organization approached the senate requesting to become a chartered club.

"Global Medical Brigades is a secular, international student-operated volunteer organization whose mission is to provide sustained health care to underserved communities throughout the world. ... Our current emphasis is to help the impoverished villages of Honduras in collaboration with one of their country's most highly regarded nonprofits, Sociedad Amigos de los Ninos," according to the club's constitution.

The senate held a lengthy discussion about the club and asked several questions regarding the club's funding and purpose.

Some senators suggested that GMB should not be recognized or chartered because it has a duality of purpose, meaning another club on campus may already serve a similar function.

Ultimately, the senate decided to hold two discrete votes. One vote was held for the recognition of GMB and one to charter GMB. Chartered clubs can request financial assistance from F-Board, while recognized clubs cannot. One senator recused herself from the vote because she serves on the executive board of GMB. The senate voted to recognize GMB by a vote of 18 to 1. The senate then voted not to charter the club by a vote of 9 to 6 with four abstentions.

However, a senator then motioned to revote because some senators were unclear as to what they were voting on. The senate voted once again regarding the charter of the club, this time approving the charter by a vote of 13 to 4 with two abstentions.

Senators nominated Senators-at-Large Shekeyla Caldwell '14 and Evyn Rabinowitz '12 and Senator for the Class of 2012 Missy Skolnik for the position of executive senator. The three nominated senators will make presentations next week and then the senate will vote for the next executive senator. The executive senator serves as the president pro-tempore of the senate as well as the official liaison between the senate and the executive office of the Union.

—Andrew Wingens