Miles Lackey, chief of staff for President Steven Leath’s office, visited the Student Government Senate’s session to talk about initiatives the university administration plan to take to address various issues on campus.

Lackey also commented on the events that took place Saturday during the Cy-Hawk game after Sen. Jane Kersch brought up the topic during the program.

During a protest of presidential-hopeful Donald Trump on Saturday, a woman identified as Shelby Mueller ripped a sign held by Jovani Rubio that read “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.”

Lackey said he was shocked when he saw the video taken by a bystander. He believed it was ridiculous and agreed with the statement Leath made Tuesday.

“What happened with Mr. Rubio, I think it’s absolutely ridiculous if someone is going to be protesting in a peaceful manner and had to experience that,” Lackey said.

Lackey said there was an incident report filed Monday night, and that he believes action will be taken.

Lackey said the university wanted to promote a good environment for people to express their ideas.

“We’re here to promote the freedom of thought, expression and the exchange of ideas,” Lackey said. “When you have someone infringing on someone’s rights, it’s ridiculous and stupid.”

In regard to the concerns many have expressed about a photo taken of Leath and Trump together on the field at Jack Trice Stadium before Saturday’s kickoff, Lackey said he can understand why someone would believe that the university president was endorsing the candidate. 

But he said that was absolutely not the case. Instead, Leath was engaging candidates to help shape higher education policy.

“[Leath] is open to visiting with any of the candidates and engaging them on a wide range of policy issues,” Lackey said. “If someone is campaigning, it becomes an opportunity to engage them. In reality, when someone is elected president, it becomes a lot harder to engage them.”

Lackey said if Leath, who has a very visible and public position, is engaging with policy makers, opportunities for misperceptions will exist.

“Mr. Trump certainly has a very visible face and said a lot of things that have gained a lot of attention, but that does not mean [Leath] endorses anything he said,” Lackey said.

Lackey also spoke to the senators about the improvements university administration has made on priorities Student Government set last year. These included improving the testing centers, addressing traffic congestion and safety concerns on Osborn Drive, expanding student access to the Thielen Student Health Center and expanding mental health services.

The Senate also approved a bill with a vote of 25 to 3 that allows the president of Student Government to appoint up to two members of the executive cabinet onto the Senate’s public relations committee. Both of these members will have voting powers on the committee.

Sen. Matthew Teubert said the bill helps inter-cabinet and Senate relations be more collaborative.

Sen. George Weston said he had an issue with the bill.

“I don’t see why they have to be voting members,” Weston said. “You rarely see a mix of executive and legislative voters anywhere.”

Sen. Abbie Lang, who is the chair of the Senate public relations committee, said she was not trying to have anyone infringe on the Senate’s role.

“The goal of this is to expand the committee,” Lang said. “We want them to be a more integral part of our committee.”

The Senate unanimously approved the nomination to seat Jack Renner, sophomore in pre-business, as the senator for the College of Business.

“I wanted to be involved on campus and be the voice of the people on campus who have issues,” he said.

Jon Roettger, junior in agricultural engineering, was approved unanimously by the Senate as a senator for the College of Engineering.

Roettger said he was a student ambassador and learned about the Senate during that time.

“That’s where I set out that I wanted to become a senator,” he said.