Representatives from secured clubs on campus attended Sunday’s Senate meeting to protest the language of a proposed amendment that would require them to appoint a club consultant.

The Senate began its meeting by establishing the Jewish Feminist Association of Brandeis as a chartered club in a vote of acclamation. The body also approved a change to the Brandeis Sustainability Fund’s constitution, submitted by Senate Sustainability Committee Chair Kent Dinlenc ’19. The change was designed to “clarify some of the language regarding the process of approving BSF proposals, how they can be submitted and who may sit on the committee board to make those decisions.”

COMMITTEE CHAIR REPORTS

Senate committee chairs once again had little news to report. Campus Operations Committee Chair Taylor Fu ’21 announced that she is meeting with members of the Department of Community Living to discuss the beautification of East Quad and to discuss the possibility of putting printers in residence halls. The Senate Social Justice and Diversity Committee did not meet last week.

CLUB CONSULTANT AMENDMENTS

Senators discussed the “Amendment to Require Club Consultants for All Secured Clubs,” an initiative first spearheaded by Tal Richtman ’20 three years ago. Representatives of the Brandeis Media Coalition — the Justice, the Hoot, WBRS and BTV — spoke to the Senate about their objections to the language of the proposed amendment. 

Isaac Zukin ’19, the general manager of WBRS, speaking on behalf of the BMC, expressed concern that campus publications would face additional pressure from outside forces if the Senate voted to keep the term “club consultant.” He proposed changing the language to “financial consultant” to remove any association with club activities besides financial oversight.

Natalia Wiater ’20, the Justice’s managing editor, said that the Justice had previously been approached by an entity wanting an article rescinded, and added that they specifically asked to speak to the Justice’s club advisor.

Class of 2020 Senator Thomas Alger said that the coalition’s qualms were a “doomsday” scenario and said that the concerns were ultimately extremely rare. Other senators also expressed skepticism at the proposed language change.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

The Senate called an executive session to discuss revisions to the Club Consultant amendment. Non-senators were removed from the meeting room during the deliberations, which lasted approximately 35 minutes.

Following the executive session, the Senate announced that an additional clause had been added to the Club Consultant amendment that would allow secured club leaders to define the language and terms of their club consultant’s responsibilities. The Senate voted on the proposal by roll call, with all 16 senators voting in favor of the amendment and therefore ratifying it.

OLD BUSINESS

Following its executive session, the Senate passed three amendments by acclamation: “Amendment Repealing Article XI of the Bylaws,” “Amendment Repealing Executive Override Power” and “Amendment Formalizing Committee Service Requirement.”

NEW BUSINESS

With little time left in the session, the Senate sped through the new business and agreed to discuss three new amendments at the next Senate meeting. These included a revised version of Class of 2022 Senator Nancy Zhai’s earlier “Amendment Regarding Union Senate Committee Outreach,” an “Amendment Specifying [Vice Presidential] Powers” and an “Amendment Clarifying Appointment of Committee Chairs.”

Senate meetings are held Sundays at 7 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center, room 313. They are open to the public.

—Editor’s Note: Nancy Zhai is a News writer for the Justice.

—Editor’s Note: Jocelyn Gould, Jen Geller and Natalia Wiater spoke at the Senate meeting on behalf of the Justice. They were not involved in the  editing of this article.