During a relatively light itinerary for the SGA Senate, the majority of the time was spent hosting speeches of affirmation and negation. 

The speeches took place shortly after the senators reconvened from their respective committees and pertained to Sen. Marissa Navarro’s Resolution R-17 to support the continuation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and its beneficiaries, known as Dreamers, on campus.  

“I hope that we’ll be able to show our support to DACA recipients on this campus, and to show that as a student government, we support them,” said Navarro, a junior majoring in international studies and Spanish. “They have people who care about them, and what they’re doing is amazing.”

Out of the five speeches, only one speech of negation was given. The speech of negation argued that the SGA should not speak on behalf of the entire student body by supporting a politically-charged resolution. 

Contrarily, each speech of affirmation provided different reasons for affirming, such as voting off conscious and correcting a past mistake. Specifically, Sen. Michael Smith, a junior majoring in economics and finance, said we are not defying precedent or meddling politically but simply supporting a group of students on campus.

Additionally, Navarro responded to the sole speech of negation on the floor.

“Through this resolution, we are just showing our support,” Navarro said. “We are not speaking on behalf of the administration.”

Furthermore, Navarro emphasized her willingness to fight for all of her constituents.

“I was elected for this position, and I owe it to my constituents to be true to my words, and to really fight on their behalf,” Navarro said. “I feel like through this resolution I did that, and I’m glad that it passed today.” 

Navarro also authored the second and final resolution featured in the meeting, Resolution R-16, which supports the expanding of the campus food pantry. The resolution was passed after brief discussion.

Order of Events:

Announcements made regarding Senate participation in a tour of the new Adaptive Athletics facility

The Senate broke for committees

Resolution R-16 supporting the expanding of the campus food pantry was passed

Resolution R-17 supporting dacamented students, as well as the continuation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was passed