The Brandeis Student Union meeting was called to order on April 6, at 7:05 p.m. by Vice President Ría Escamilla-Gil ’27

The first order of business was to discuss club charters, with a presentation by Rani Balakrishna ’25 to recharter the Archon Yearbook. The club had been dechartered in October 2023 due to funding issues and a lack of staff, with Assistant Director for Operations, Matt DeCarlo, and a singular student taking on most of the work. The new proposed structure would be to create a short, magazine-style booklet given out during senior week with a QR code to a longer online yearbook.The Student Union voted to charter the new yearbook club unanimously by vote of affirmation.

The next club to ask for chartered status was Brandeis Athlete Ally by Elle Yung ’28 and Balakrishna. The purpose of their club is to host safe spaces for queer athletes. Balakrishna stated that she has met with other Athlete Ally chapters and added that there are three queer affinity groups on campus, but none specific to athletes. She then showed a map of transgender athlete bans and said that Massachusetts protects transgender athletes under anti-discrimination laws. The club’s current finances come from a one time donation of $3,500 with $2,400 remaining from Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Lynne Dempsey. The presenters said that they benefit from being part of a national organization by having a monthly call with other campus chapters, allowing them access to additional resources that are not in the form of monetary funding. Executive Senator Daniel Shin ’27 brought up that clubs will potentially be merged, and will need to be more selective or better at outreach. The Senate then voted unanimously by affirmation to charter Athlete Ally.

Next was the executive board report with $8,234 left and five Senate Money Resolutions. Shin gave a report for the Club Support Committee and said that two clubs were granted chartered status and two were given probationary status. Then, Sarah Jafary ’28 gave a report for the Health and Wellness committee. She discussed the State of the Union planning and a self-care day for finals with collaborations between clubs. The Senate discussed and passed some bylaw amendments. Balakrishna, in her Student Union President role, then discussed club amendment with Michelle Puls, the Director of the Department of Student Engagement and Student Union Advisor. The two talked about the DSE having clubs start the process of amending their constitutions to include anti-discrimination language.

The Senate then moved into executive session to discuss a Senate Resolution asking the University to condemn the Trump administration’s actions against trans athletes. They brought Yung, a transgender athlete at Brandeis, to talk about her experience. Ava Ferrigno ’27 asked how her team was supporting her. Yung said she has to compete on the men’s side to comply with National Colleagate Athletic Association regulations that mandate transgender athletes to compete on the team of their sex assigned at birth. She said the University has not made any promises or public statements but has offered her mental health support. Lukas Gordon ’26 asked if chartering Athlete Ally is enough of a public statement. Yung said that there is an information war about this issue and a statement from the Student Union would be powerful. She said that “silence is death” and that funding has been pulled for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at other universities. International Senator Gianna Crisha Saludo ’28 asked what she wanted them to demand of the university and how they could best support her. She said that no universities across the country have taken a stance on transgender athletes. Yung said she has been an athlete for a long time and it has been good for her mental health. Shin then said they will focus on the International Student Resolution in a future week.

After discussing Yung’s presentation, the Senate moved on to discuss the Senate Money Resolutions. Balakrishna said she was presenting on behalf of a collaboration with Student Sexuality Information Services for an event on April 29 from 2 to 5 p.m. in Fellows Garden that will include tabling and instructional materials on how to have safe sex. Gordon stated that the event was reasonably priced, and they voted to expedite and pass unanimously by affirmation.

The last meeting will occur on April 20 on Zoom.