On Wednesday, Student Senate voted to extend the drop/add date by two weeks.
After Chief of Staff Alex Mace and First-year Sen. Monica Finnegan met with Provost Paul Ludden, the provost agreed that extending the time period would benefit students.
Now, the piece of legislation is pending approval from Faculty Senate before it can go any further.
Sen. Joseph Esau (Lyle) was concerned that by extending the time frame, SMU’s academic level would decrease.
“This idea gives students the ability to cherry pick their schedules and chose easier classes,” he said.
Sen. Savannah Stephens (Dedman I) raised the point that for students enrolled in night classes, the extended date would provide them the opportunity of attending more than just one class.
Sen. Esau was the only Senator present who voted against the bill.
After being denied funding from the Finance Committee, Spectrum appealed to Senate, asking for $1,500 to bring well-known transgenderqueer femme radical activist and performance artist JAC Stringer to campus for an event Spectrum is holding in April.
Spectrum argued that they had already considered local transgender speakers but felt that Stringer would be most beneficial.
Alex Vernon, Spectrum’s activist co-chair, believes holding a transgender event is crucial for students at SMU, and other nearby colleges and universities, as many students struggle with their identity.
“A lot of the time the ‘T’ in LGBT gets left off and it’s very important to us to have a transgender speaker come and talk to us,” she said. “It’s an issue that doesn’t get talked about a lot. And, we have students who identify as that.”
Spectrum expects anywhere from 50 to 100 people, both members of the LGBT community and allies, to attend the event, which isn’t confined to the SMU community.
Due to some explicit topics that would be addressed in Stringer’s presentation, Senate felt that he may not be appropriate for SMU. Instead, Senate suggests Spectrum invite a local transgender to speak at the event.
Senate was also concerned that the event wouldn’t appeal to students outside of Spectrum.
Finance Chair Rachel Fox added that Senate already allocated $6,000 to Spectrum at the beginning of the year.
During the meeting, Program Council announced that they are working to hold the Republican Senate Debate at SMU again this year in April.
