Student senate met on Wednesday to receive an update about the Board of Trustees from student trustees.
Mia Citino and Garrett Meek explained their position of providing a student perspective to the board and some of the committee updates.
Starting with the Audit and risk management committee, Citino gave a quick overview of what the committee does and the audit plans and insurance report presented to the board during its most recent meeting.
“The (insurance) rates increased so rapidly, because of a hard market, inflation and other predictable factors,” Citino said. “So, while it is not obviously a delightful number to look at, it was expected.”
Meek gave an update on the academic and student success committee, with a focus on educational quality and experiential learning. Within this committee, there was also an update given on this year’s enrollment.
“We had another record-breaking enrollment for the freshman class. Theirs is the highest GPA, which is a 3.5 average for incoming freshmen,” Meek said. “There were records per college: Arts and Sciences, Business, fine arts, Engineering and Technology, Health Sciences and profession.”
Citino followed this with an update for the resources and facilities committee. She showed the senate the budget forecasts, as well as an update on the capital projects.
“We also received updates on the capital project, Clippinger, which you all know is under renovation,” Citino said. “They asked for more money on that because concrete walls are not as easy to change as one might expect.”
Student investment programs were also a main focus of the presentation, Citino said that students are able to manage a portion of the university’s capital pool.
“They have advising from OU people who work with the budget, so it's a very hands-on learning experience similar to what Garrett was touching on with learning by doing experiential experience that he wants to offer students,” Citino said.
Lastly, Citino presented there will be a new building – across from Heritage Hall – named Heritage Translational Research Center.
Following the presentation, the senate then began its meeting and moved into new business. Among the resolutions passed were appointing several new commissioners and the appointment of new senators within various commissions.
There were also some budget resolutions allocating funds for some upcoming senate projects, including gifts to hang out to students for International Stress Awareness Week, gift cards for the winner of Senate’s canned food drive and candy to hand out while tabling.
