Graduate Student Senate inducted a new body for the 2021-2022 school year during its last meeting of the year Tuesday night.
All current body members finalized their positions for the coming school year and were re-inducted. Joseph Ziorklui was elected as treasurer with 122 votes.
A resolution to amend the GSS Rules and Procedures was approved, allowing for the inclusion of proper pronoun usage. The resolution will also create a new committee to enforce proper pronoun usage and plan training for new members. According to the resolution, the new amendment also allows for the Rules and Procedures to reflect the accumulated responsibilities of the treasurer position.
“Part of this resolution is to adapt the rules and procedures to embody more inclusive language but also emphasize more inclusive language within ideas as a body as a whole,” Letitia Price, commissioner for Women Affairs, said.
The last meeting of the year also allowed graduating members to say final words of encouragement.
“The only way I learned how to do all this stuff in GSS and started trying to really actually make change that I thought was necessary is I got really angry that GSS wasn’t doing anything (during) my first year here. We were passing a lot of resolutions that didn’t do stuff,” Brett Fredericksen, commissioner for Academic Life: Research, said. “If you want to make the changes that you feel like either GSS or the university at large should be making for graduate students, sometimes it’s really all about just asking people until somebody says yes to you.”
Vice President Amal Shimir thanked the body for attending every meeting over Zoom and being so involved. She encouraged all members to advertise GSS and increase graduate student representation throughout the university. Treasurer Amid Vahedi thanked the executive board for working with him and for its great leadership in GSS.
“I’m going to leave it with: the work isn’t done. We have stuff to do still,” GSS President Kaelyn Ferris said. “I’m excited to make sure that continues into next year.”
