Student Senate addresses CATS initiative, Roger Ailes resolution and global perspectives

Student Senate addressed the CATS initiative and reintroduced conversation about the Survivor Advocacy Program following the former Roger E. Ailes Newsroom resolution. Several new resolutions were passed and multiple commissioners and senators were appointed on Wednesday night.Vice President Courteney Muhl presented a plan for Senate to fund an advertising campaign for SAP, following the administration’s current promotion of awareness for power-based personal violence. Both Senate and OU have created advertising initiatives, but only OU’s has been implemented. The university funded stand-up signs for Baker Center, and Senate is planning to submit a budget for bathroom stall advertisements and hosting a forum on power-based violence.“We want to make sure that we’re taking a look at what type of forum this will be,” Muhl said, emphasizing the need for panelist diversity. The Ailes resolution also required that Senate remember the significance of the event, an obligation E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Senator Connor Attrell re-established. He proposed that Scripps Communication week, a series of lectures hosted by the journalism school, dedicate a lecture to power-based abuse in the media.President Hannah Clouser updated the floor on the continued efforts of CATS, a cultural awareness initiative proposed by President Roderick McDavis three weeks ago. A budget for a visualization campaign is being prepared for Senate approval, which will initially fund 500 buttons and an accompanying pledge card that would symbolize standing against racism on campus. “Our hope is those buttons will spread and people will want them, and then we can use funding from another source, like the president’s office, and get conversation started that we cannot tolerate any kind of hate on campus or off,” Clouser said.Muhl also brought up how  Park Place would be used in the future, as one of the buildings is no longer the presidential dwelling and is prime real estate on campus. “We are taking a blank canvas look at that space, how any of the buildings that are dark can be best utilized, how the space can be restructured for student, faculty, resident collaboration,” Muhl said. The Board of Trustees will host an informational meeting next spring.Senate also passed its second bill of the semester, which will include Senate members in talks  about important academic enrichment at the university and will provide a global perspective from students. Nine resolutions were passed, including continued funding for blue books, two amendments to the rules, an amendment on the attendance requirements and five resolutions for appointing senators and commissioners to various positions. These included sorority and fraternity life, black affairs, the judicial panel, a West Green Senator and members for the Internal Budget Committee. There was also a resolution to fund a new print of the Student Senate Constitution, which was recently changed during the summer and is displayed in the Student Senate office.Student Senate meets weekly on Wednesdays at 7:15 p.m. in Walter 235.