As the first full week got back underway, Seattle Pacific University’s Senate also made their first debut of the new year.
Opening with officer reports, ASSP President Nathan Samayo immediately announced that a meeting has been arranged between SPU President Dan Martin and the authors of the Statement of Human Sexuality proposal.
Last quarter, students Joe Cagley, Lila Fowler and Levi Clum, along with several supporters, proposed to revise and rewrite the university’s statement of human sexuality in order to be more inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community.
Senate passed the proposition with a majority, but not unanimous, vote before leaving for winter break.
The meeting between Martin, Samayo and the authors of the proposition will be held on Jan. 24 and was requested by Martin himself.
When this news was announced, Senator Alonso Ramirez asked if there was any word or any update regarding the change to the Human Sexuality Proposal.
In response, Samayo said, “We are leaning towards language of revising the community lifestyle expectations … moving forward that is the hope that we get to use that kind of language.”
Before break commenced Samayo stated that he gave Martin the full proposal of the senate support memo written up by Executive Vice President Kaitlyn Payton and all documents of staff, faculty, student and alumni support.
The support consisted of lengthy emails and statements of support explaining why people support the proposition and is contained in a big so full it is unable to close.
The binder is currently held in the ASSP office, and Samayo says that the binder of documents in support of the proposition is open to the public for viewing.
In Other News:
Executive Vice President Kaitlyn Payton announced upcoming elections beginning Jan. 28. Senate is also no longer full and the positions of senators for the schools of humanities, education, and theology are open.
Vice President of Finance Sarah Kirschner announced that the student budget committee had their first meeting but is looking for a student at-large to join the committee. The finance and allocation boards are also looking for students at-large.
Vice President of Campus Activities Celeste Ajayi announced that voting for People of Promise will go out in the coming week and there is an ASSP Social Media Challenge currently ongoing.
Senator Austin Matzelle announced that the counseling center is redesigning their website and seeking a student review board to review their beta design.
