The Senate meeting scheduled for Monday, Nov. 2, was cancelled at the last minute due to a lack of available Senators available to participate.
”Senators had work, family, and class complications that came up, we were hoping that people could work around all of that, but it did not work out,” Student Body Vice President, Colton Ray, said regarding the short notice cancellation.
Normally, Senate meetings are held on Tuesday nights, however due to the upcoming general election the meeting was moved to the Monday prior to Election Day. The agenda for the cancelled Senate meeting included introductions of prospective Senators who were interested in joining the seven remaining Senate seats as well as an allocation of Student Government funds to the Student Emergency Fund.
An email was sent out by Ray, announcing the Senate meeting cancellation as well as a vote party in partnership with the Eastern Michigan University chapter of the NAACP. “I apologize to everyone for this, especially to Dr. Lauterbach and our prospective senators, but we do not have the quorum to hold a meeting tonight,“ the email from Ray read. "Please attend the vote party at 8:30 if you are able to make it though!”
Dr. Lauterbach, the director of Counseling and Psychological Services at EMU was scheduled to speak at the Senate meeting to answer questions Senators had in regards to CAPS’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as general questions surrounding mental health. Her presentation was moved to the Nov. 17 Student Government general meeting.
Not everyone received this email, as EMU Professor and Student Government Advisor Perry Francis emailed the group, “Can someone let me in the meeting . . . what is the password [to get into the call]?."
At the time of cancellation Senate committee meetings were still scheduled to take place the following on the following Tuesday, Nov. 10. A Student Government general meeting will be next week on Tuesday, Nov. 17. Senate meetings are held via Zoom and can be accessed through the Student Government website.
