The student senate met Wednesday for their weekly legislative session. The meeting included a guest speaker on the university’s admissions policies and a discussion of the confirmation of Speaker of the Student Senate Davis Latham’s undue influence by the constitutional council.
Scott Verzyl, dean of undergraduate admissions, opened the night’s meeting by answering questions regarding the university’s admissions policies.
Many of the questions received by Verzyl revolved around the number of freshmen admitted yearly. Last fall, the over-admittance of freshmen to the university caused overflow of freshmen into off-campus housing, including sixteen males who lived in the Courtyard Marriott on Assembly Street for weeks.
“We’re trying to land on a dime. We have a target, an exact target, but it’s very difficult to be 100% precise and get an exact thing on that target,” Verzyl said. “We have a machine language model that models it all out and says, 'Okay, based on who you admitted, what's been happening the last couple of years, this is what your yield probably is going to be.'”
Following Verzyl’s presentation, the senate’s officers gave their updates. This included an update from the constitutional council regarding its deliberation on accusations of undue political influence by Latham.
The constitutional council, using a test of their own design, determined that Latham exerted undue political influence in the case of Lunn, Patrick v. Latham.
Although this test will be used as a precedent in future cases involving undue political influence, chief justice Robert Augustin said there’s no set action now that a decision has been made.