The Undergraduate Senate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Student Government Association held its 1927th and last Regular Meeting of the fall semester on a rainy Wednesday, Dec. 11 in the Student Union’s Black Box Theater.
Although this was the final meeting of the semester, the Senate shared their ideas and enthusiasm for the upcoming winter and spring semesters. Speaker Michel Flanagan expressed his optimism, stating, “I’m really looking forward to next semester.”
During the Committee of the Whole, President Colin Humphries awarded Chief-of-Staff Anton Nassar and SGA Advisor Sid Ferreira the Presidential Medal of Honor. According to Humphries, these are the first Presidential Medal of Honor the SGA has ever awarded. Humphries gave speeches about each winner, saying that Nassar is “upstanding, professional and dedicated.” When presenting Ferreira’s award, Humphries said, “I don’t know where we would be today without Sid Ferreira.” Humphries said that while the last couple years have been challenging, the commitment of Nassar and Ferreira “never wavered.”
Nassar has served as SGA chief-of-staff for two years, and this was Nassar’s last meeting in the Undergraduate Senate before his graduation. In his place, Naomi Bloom, a senator currently in the Outreach and Development Committee, will serve as Chief of Staff beginning next semester. Bloom was officially appointed and sworn in by the Senate during the meeting.
The Senate then unanimously voted to award UMass Dhadak $49,258.80, with motion S.56, in emergency funding. According to Dhadak’s representatives, the emergency funds will go towards flight tickets for the group’s 23 members from Boston to Pittsburgh and from Hartford to Iowa City, IA for various dance competitions. The team’s mission states, “UMass Dhadak will promote cultural diversity through different dance styles at UMass Amherst, as well as the local Amherst community. The dance styles include, Bollywood, Bhangra, Bharatanatyam (classical Indian dance), Jazz, Hip-Hop, Contemporary & more.”
This is the first time this academic year that the SGA has administered emergency funding for a Registered Student Organization (RSO).
Three motions were passed for amendments in the SGA’s General Bylaws. Motion S.51 was passed to amend Title II, Chapter 31, Section Two and Title III, Chapter Five of the General Bylaws. Title III, Chapter 21 of the General Bylaws was also amended in motion S.52. Lastly for bylaw amendments, S.58 was passed amending Title VI, Chapters 10,11 and 14 of the General Bylaws.
S.57 was passed, appointing Jacob Nevins, Adanna Eze, Kirolos Ibrahim, Wania Imran, Kefei Wu, Thuat Nguyen, Julia DeMarco, Juliette Tao, Clinton Maleski, Valentina Sevilhano Duarte, Darren Truong, and Ishaan Dwivedi to the Winter Coordinating Council.
In business not anticipated 48 hours prior, the Senate voted to officially express gratitude to the Amherst and Pelham Fire Departments for their contributions and swift response to fires both on the UMass campus and in the Amherst community as a whole. The Connecticut River Valley region has been under a Level 3 Critical Drought status since November 19.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:22 p.m. The Undergraduate Senate will not meet again until Feb. 5, 2025.
Nathan Legare can be reached at nlegare@umass.edu and followed on X (Formerly Twitter) @Legare_Nathan. Abby Joyce can be reached at acjoyce@umass.edu.