On Wednesday night, the Notre Dame Student Senate met in the Montgomery Auditorium at LaFortune Student Center to discuss campus enrichment activities, dining room updates and constitutional amendments related to informed debate during sessions.
During the executive announcements, Jill Maudlin, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, provided a progress report on the initiatives completed to date, as well as upcoming events.
“Today I want to briefly highlight the successful initiatives of Accessibility Leadership Fellows, accessible seating and coalition campaigns,” said Maudlin. “With regard to the Accessibility Leadership Fellows, my department has worked with Sara Bea Accessibility Services and developed a program that provides mentoring for first-time Sara Bea users and also builds a community among disabled students.”
The department has 25 students enrolled in the program and expects an even larger number next year.
Maudlin said that in partnership with Notre Dame Athletics, a webpage section was created that includes accessible seating information for each athletic facility on campus. The department’s alliance campaign has taught the Notre-Dame community how to be allies of the disability community through posters in the 32 dormitories detailing wheelchair etiquette and advice on alliances, Maudlin said. She highlighted the next projects for the department, including recommendations for dorm room accessibility and a inclement weather transport plan.
Continuing with the announcements, Student Union Vice President Sofie Stitt reminded the Senate to meet Senate Chat office hours, GreenDot training requirements for relevant members of student government, volunteers needed for the Exploratory Week, the Midterm Debate, coffee and Bagels with the Office of Residential Life and Residential to schedule visits to the Life Hall.
In light of the rest of the announcements, Maudlin encouraged the Senate to wear orange next Monday in light of complex regional pain syndrome.
“It’s a neurological pain disorder that usually affects one or more limbs. I have it, so it’s very important to me. It’s super rare and very understudied, so awareness is super high,” Maudlin said.
Luigi Alberganti, Senior Director of Campus Dining, later discussed changes at Campus Dining and possible projects. Over the summer, Campus Dining engaged in talks about contracts, talent and financial concerns.
“We had a 28-day menu cycle and we reduced it to 14 so you can see more things more often,” Alberganti said.
Senior Executive Chef Gregory Larson said the dining rooms will see a new menu cycle in the near future.
“It’s probably a bit early, but we’re bringing in a whole new menu cycle, so you’ll see two different menu cycles per semester. This allows us to choose more seasonality, keep things as local as possible, and create different strategies,” Larson said.
Larson said there has been mixed feedback about the increase in technology in the North Dining Hall.
“We hope we’ve fixed some of the connectivity issues… We hope to provide you with a better service experience in the future by reducing queues and offering different menu concepts that provide speedy service,” Larson said. “We’re coming to an area where we can offer fresher foods for your customizable view, and this is the first step of that.”
South Dining Hall will see a similar technology shift in January 2023, with allergy-friendly options through a la carte customization, he said.
Alberganti ended by announcing that a robotic food service would be available during the last few home football games, as a foretaste of what’s to come in the spring semester.
Stitt moved to general orders and initiated a debate on SO 2223-12, an order to amend the Senate charter to ensure informed debate and effective agendas. The motion to pass the amendment failed, but the motion to postpone discussion of the amendment until next week was accepted.
Finally, the Senate gave a brief overview of upcoming topics for the next session and responded to announcements by any Senate members about events.