There are seven committees on student senate, and they are as follows: senate resources, finance, campus affairs, educational affairs, diversity affairs, external relations and public relations. Here are some highlights from our committees, written by a member of the public relations committee.

The senate resources committee has just finished one of its main tasks of appointing new senators and filling the body, so we now have a full body of 50 senators.

The finance committee has been hard at work every week allocating money from the student life fund to student organizations. If you and your club are interested in funding and are trying to attend an appropriations funding board meeting before submitting a request, it’s Tuesday, Nov. 28, at 4:30 p.m. in the Kirkhof Center, Room 2201.

The campus affairs committee has been working on an assortment of things. From the sexual assault awareness committee to the Laker organization leadership council, the campus affairs committee is always busy with a multitude of things. Another big thing is a “take your professor to lunch” program that is in the works. Another is that the campus affairs committee has recently completed a Veterans Day Item Drive that went on from Wednesday, Nov. 1, through Wednesday, Nov. 8. 

In the diversity affairs committee, senators are looking into the future of Code B.L.A.C, improving ethnic foods on campus and a student-parent initiative. Another key thing that they are doing is helping hold a Martin Luther King Jr. week in February. 

In the external relations committee, the senators will be working on voter engagement and programming both during and outside of election years. A few senators within the committee are also working on an upcoming school pipeline project. Another key ERC project right now is to work on state funding, as we have sent a senator to Lansing already to lobby some representatives. 

In the public relations committee, we recently finished up outreach research engagement. This is where all seven PRC members go out into the student body and try to do two things: let students know that we as student senators are always here for them and talk with many students about their Grand Valley State University experiences to get a better feel of what the student body wants from student senate. PRC also hosted what they consider to be one of the bigger Public Opinion Days to date, where more than 150 students were surveyed on a variety of senate projects.