The 2023-2024 Luther Student Senate met for their third meeting of the fall semester on September 21, in which the creation of a new student organization was officially approved and new student housing representatives were chosen for Baker Village and College Apartments.
Viz Biz, represented by Alli Thomley (‘25), was looking to become Luther’s newest student organization. The visual communications-based club would create a publication to highlight the seniors in the visual communication major, arts majors, and theater major.
Thomley was given the opportunity to explain the club’s purpose to the Senators, which includes sharing senior projects and providing services to the campus community.
“Basically, we would be highlighting senior projects and what [work Luther students have] been doing, sort of like a mini yearbook for the [Visual and Performing Arts Department],” Thomley said. “We are also hoping to start doing some services for Luther College, so if [students] need headshots or posters designed, we’re hoping to provide that service.”
Beyond these planned services, Thomley explained that the club has no events planned at this time. Following Thomley’s explanation, senators were given time to review Viz Biz’s constitution before moving forward to vote, where the club was unanimously approved by all Senators present. Senate’s approval allows Viz Biz to begin club activities.
Student Senate also welcomed newly elected senators to their first full-group meeting. However, several positions still needed to be filled, including Baker Village Representative and College Apartments Representative. Potential candidates Madelynn Liston (‘24), Jessica Dahl (‘24), and Mitchell McManus (‘25) presented their cases as to why they would be good for the open positions.
McManus was the only candidate for College Apartments Representative and explained that since this is his second year living in the Apartments, he’s familiar with the layout and community.
Both Liston and Dahl were candidates for the Baker Village Representative position. Liston made her case for the position first and pointed out that she would be able to advocate for Baker Village as well as for students living in Rochester, as the senate does not currently have a representative position for Luther students in Rochester.
“I know a lot of people who live in Baker, [and] I’d love to advocate for what is going on over there,” Liston said. “I think I could be an advocate for people living [in Rochester] because there’s often not good communication between [Rochester] and here.”
Dahl’s appeal to the Senators included that she would advocate for accommodations and community building. Dahl cited her already close relationships with Baker residents and Baker Village Resident Assistant Anna Kjeldahl (‘24) in her statement, as well as giving her thoughts on various aspects of Baker Village.
“[I] have been having discussions about accommodations and the parking issues and the cleaning services that are missing currently,” Dahl said. “I [also] have some ideas for how we can make it more of a community, to get to know our neighbors and make it a better living situation for everyone involved.”
The senators voted to appoint McManus to the position of College Apartments Representative and Liston to the position of Baker Village Representative. While McManus’ appointment was unanimous, CHIPS was not able to obtain a vote count for Liston’s appointment due to an internal Senate procedure to only note unanimous votes in their minutes.
The meeting concluded with an explanation of Student Senate’s shared governance positions and an introduction to the ad hoc committees they are working to establish. Shared governance positions are boards co-chaired by Luther faculty that Senators participate in to provide student perspectives. They include Academic Facilities and Technology, Campus Life, Campus Programming, Learning and Assessment, Student Development and Curriculum. As for committees, senators will begin work pursuing various topics that were discussed in the September 14 meeting. More discussion is expected to take place in the meeting on September 28.
