This week’s Senate meeting continued discussions on purchasing pianos for both first-year residence quads. 

The meeting began with various committee reports. Sustainability Committee Chair Kent Dinlenc ’19 explained that the Sustainability Committee has been working on student body outreach, especially to Community Advisors. 

Dining Committee Chair Leigh Salomon ’19 said he is currently discussing creating a rollover meal swipe program with Gino Galutera, Managing Director of Auxiliary and Campus Card Services. Under the proposed initiative, unused meal swipes at the end of the week would be converted into points that students could use later.

Executive Senator Aaron Finkel ’20 proposed allocating Senate funds to purchase a television monitor for the SCC atrium. The monitor would display events going on around campus, including club activities and more formal department events. Finkel said the project has support from the Department of Student Activities and verbal support from Brandeis students. “We’ve got to do something about getting people engaged on campus,” he said, describing the importance of the proposal. Finkel added that senators might want to consider also purchasing a sound system to ensure the success of the “digital marketing.”

As Services and Outreach Committee Chair, Finkel noted the success of the reduced turkey shuttle ticket prices and jokingly said, “People are gobbling them up.” Finkel’s comment elicited groans from the Senate. Finkel also proposed a motion to allocate roughly $3,200 in Senate funds to subsidize the turkey shuttle tickets. Senators approved the motion in a vote of acclamation.

After the committee chair reports, senators discussed last week’s proposal to purchase upright pianos for the two first-year quads. Senators Linfei Yang ’20 and Alex Chang ’22 said they had found two upright pianos for free but would need money to rent a U-Haul vehicle to transport the pianos to campus. The senators estimated the cost of the operation at $150, compared to the original $765.96 proposal to purchase new pianos, but noted that the free pianos would not be equipped with auxiliary ports that would have allowed students to connect headphones. To solve noise problems that would result due to the lack of headphone ports, the pianos would be locked during quiet hours each night by either the Community Advisor on call or the Area Coordinator. The senators noted that the Department of Community Living has been generally supportive of the proposal. The Senate agreed to discuss the proposal further next week if Yang and Chang secure written support from DCL.

At 8 p.m. on Sunday, the Senate debuted their updated website union.brandeis.edu. The website includes profiles of each senator, including photos and titles.

The meeting concluded with a reminder that the Student Union will be present at the Community Conversation event on Monday, Oct. 29. The event will be held at 6 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Multi-Purpose Room.

—Sam Stockbridge

An earlier version of this article misstated the name of a senator working on the piano initiative. He is Alex Chang, not Alex Cheng.