The student senate confirmed and debated appointments to multiple groups with some contention at its meeting Wednesday.
These staff positions, primarily members of the student body president’s cabinet, treasurer’s office and constitutional council, were all subject to review by various committees in the senate.
The majority of nominees for these positions were approved. Those considered unfavorable were mainly deemed so due to their lack of knowledge of the position or of Student Government as a whole.
One nominee, second-year statistics student Andrew Crawford, who was deemed unfavorable for the position of comptroller by the senate’s finance committee, became a source of controversy within the meeting. Despite the committee's decision, student body treasurer Caden Askew submitted a memo to re-nominate Crawford for the position.
“I think I would be doing Andrew an incredible disservice to reject him as my choice,” Askew said. “The person finance committee saw and the person who I know are not the same. And while I understand it could very well be my perception that's why, I think I'd be amiss not to ask finance committee to reconsider as well.”
Nominations must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Tuesday in order to be referred to a committee at that week's senate meeting. Askew submitted his re-nomination at 4 p.m. on Wednesday so Crawford will be referred to the finance committee in next week's senate session on April 15.
The comptrollers, who advise student organizations in the process of receiving funds from Student Government, are interviewed by the finance committee before being deemed favorable or unfavorable.
In Askew's opening remarks at Wednesday's meeting, he apologized for demonstrating behavior he said was “not exemplary of the decorum you should expect from an elected officer.”
“I tried to reach out to everyone I may have offended yesterday in my disappointment,” Askew said.
While it is unclear what the nature of this behavior might have been, the Daily Gamecock will provide information as it becomes available.
In a phone interview after the meeting, Askew said he feels he does not "owe" an explanation to those outside of the group he apologized to at the meeting.
Following discussion of Crawford’s nomination, Student Body President Issy Rushton updated the senate on her discussions with Mark Cooper, chair of the faculty senate.
One of these discussions’ involved the integration of mental health into class syllabuses.
“We truly believe, as an office and as a governing body, that there should be mental health resources on that syllabi,” Rushton said. “Not only will it allow for students to notice those resources in a document that they are supposed to read, but it also encourages a faculty and staff recognization of those resources.”
Among other proposed measures were implementing mental health resources into the advising process and USC’s new attendance system.
Updated on April 9 at 10:45 p.m.