On Tuesday, Sept. 24, the Waynesburg University Student Senate held its third meeting for the fall semester. The meeting included the inauguration of three more senators and committee topics. 

Dr. Lawrence Stratton, who serves as a professor of Ethics and Constitutional Law, director of the Stover Center for Constitutional Studies and Moral Leadership and as the advisor of the Student Senate, spoke about his excitement regarding the new inductees. 

“I look forward to the senate setting a tone of civil discourse on campus, and modeling and collective decision-making,” Stratton said. “Every year another makeup of the senate brings up different creative perspectives.”

This year, six new senators were inaugurated. Last Tuesday, Sept. 17, Emma Shashura, Madison Bidniuk and Tyler Gordon were inaugurated. 

Due to scheduling conflicts, the remaining three senators were inaugurated this week. Sydney Kratsas, Gracie Rape and Sophia Lowery were the most recent to be inaugurated. 

Jason Polgar, the president of the Student Senate, gave a brief recap of what transpired at the most recent meeting.

“Today’s meeting we inaugurated our new senators from the freshman and sophomore classes so that we can have a full senate,” Polgar said.

Polgar also states that now that the senate is full, they can get a move on with the business of the senate, and the representation of the students. 

“Now that we have a full senate, we have some really good staffed committees that will be discussing issues on campus, academic issues, student life issues and polling on different issues,” Polgar said. “We are going to be able to take these ideas and feedback from students and the senators and take it to the administration to get the positive change that we need for students and improve the student life here.” 

The committees discussed polling for multiple topics on campus, academics and community problems. The academic committee discussed changes to the class schedule and how it could be improved for next semester. The polling committee discussed improvements and options in the dining hall. The community committee discussed the issue of Willison Hall, the lack of its water fountain and how to fix this problem. Polgar said that these issues are high on his radar.
The next student senate meeting will be held next Tuesday, Oct. 1. Waynesburg University Interim Provost and Director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program and Associate Professor of Business Administration, Dr. Melinda Walls will be attending next week’s meeting to discuss academic scheduling. This meeting is open to the student body.Attending students must be prepared to state their public discussion, or reason why they are attending.