The first meeting for the 2014-2015 Government of the Student Body Senate met April 9 to approve executive cabinet nominees and discuss the developments with Veishea. 

The meeting began with a solemn discussion regarding the suspension of official Veishea meetings. President Hillary Kletscher noted several points made throughout the day’s various faculty meetings.

“Looking forward, the next few days are going to be a challenge,” Kletscher said. “It’s an opportunity for all us to step up to the plate and be the student leaders I know we all want to be.”

Present nominees of executive cabinet positions were unanimously confirmed after the senate reviewed several nominees’ project plans. Alex Rogers was unanimously confirmed to the position of election commissioner. Abhijit Patwa was unanimously confirmed as finance director.

The GSB Senate also appointed several members to higher positions.

Sen. Gabriel Walsh was unanimously appointed to speaker of the Senate without contest.

Sen. Dan Breitbarth was appointed as vice speaker of the Senate. Other nominees included Sen. Michael Plantenberg, Sen. Danielle Nygard and Sen. Richard Hartnett.

Sen. Samuel Schulte was appointed chairman of the university affairs relations committee. Plantenberg was the other nominee.

Nathan Vos was appointed chairman of public relations committee without contest.

Following the appointments and Senate bills, Kletscher ended the meeting by requesting assistance from GSB to help her and university administration in collecting students’ thoughts and concerns and to assist in communication with the student body for the rest of what was scheduled to be Veishea.

“It’s still Veishea,” Kletscher said. “There’s still a mentality that the student body has about some of the unofficial activities going on throughout the remainder of the week. We have to keep students safe; we have to do what we can.”

Kletscher also mentioned that she would reach out to other student leaders to assist in communicating with students and faculty. Hartnett asked Kletscher what the university’s stance and expectations are for the remainder of the week. Kletscher did warn that the university was concerned that retaliation due to Veishea’s suspension could pose a threat to student safety.

Other senators also voiced concerns regarding the “traditional” aspects, and also what degree of retaliation could be expected. Kletscher only said that the National Guard was on standby.

Vos did provide an update, saying that as of 9:30 p.m., no activity had been witnessed in Campustown, the location of the riot the morning of April 9.

Sen. Khayree Fitten addressed the GSB and asked that they make an effort to talk to those on the Veishea committee and understand the amount of work that went into planning the event.

“They spend literally countless hours working on making this happen,” Fitten said. “For some students to really disrespect the work that everyone puts into this is unfortunate. Please show your support to the individuals in the organization.”