Undergraduate Senate streamlines institutional knowledge transfer

Oct. 9, 2020, 12:19 a.m.

“It’s really hard to do meaningful work in the Senate when you don’t know what’s been previously done,” Emily Nichols ’23 said at the Undergraduate Senate’s Thursday meeting. The Senate unanimously passed a bill to streamline the committee selection process and organize the records of past resolutions by policy area.

Senate Chair Micheal Brown ’22 added that the bill would increase efficiency and accountability in committee work. 

“If there’s not consistent effort, then there should be an ability for us to hold those folks accountable,” he said.

The Senators did not vote on a Senate Aide Program bill, which would pair each Senator with a student aide, due to conflicts with the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) Constitution and Joint By-Laws. These conflicts would not allow aides to vote for Senators in case of absence.

Senator Tim Vrakas ’21 introduced a joint resolution on mandatory naloxone training for resident assistants and community associates, which the Graduate Student Council debated at its Wednesday meeting. Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, is an opioid antagonist used to reverse a narcotic overdose. The resolution cited the Stanford 2019 Alcohol and Drug Undergraduate Survey and the growing presence of fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills in Santa Clara County.

Two of the bill’s co-authors, Nicole Ticea ’21 and Max Moss ’21, started a community-based training and workshop series for students living on campus in EVGR-A.  Together they have partnered with Santa Clara County to launch a “for students, led by students” training program with unlimited access to naloxone.

Ticea joined the meeting to field questions regarding the program’s longevity and feasibility. 

“In theory we could give a naloxone kit to every single student in the student body,” Ticea said. 

Senators recommended that Ticea communicate with University administration to institutionalize the naloxone program, potentially as a voluntary student organization under Vaden Health Center.

Contact Anna Wang at awang24 ‘at’ stanford.edu

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