The IUSA Congress met for its first meeting of the spring semester Tuesday in the Dogwood Room of the Indiana Memorial Union to elect officials and discuss the coming term.
Vice President Jalen Watkins told the Congress to continue to work efficiently and use its time wisely this semester, saying it needs to work together and find the most feasible way to get the job done.
“I’m going to put trust in you all that we’re going to be talking about things that need to be discussed and not getting caught in the weeds,” Watkins said.
Introducing himself to new members, Watkins told representatives their main goal is to interact with their constituents.
“You’re the voice of whatever you’re representing,” Watkins said. “We need to hear from the student body, and we need to make it more accessible.”
Throughout the meeting, Watkins stressed the importance of time efficiency during the semester as well, giving a lot of this responsibility to the different committees.
Every time Congress meets it needs to use its time wisely, he added.
At the beginning of the meeting, Congress held elections for positions that change at term, including press secretary, grammarian, parliamentarian and speaker of Congress.
The Congress elected William Hutchins for the position of congressman representing off-campus as press secretary, Carmen Stacy for the position of congressman representing the College of Arts and Sciences as grammarian, and Naomi Kellogg for the position of congresswoman representing the Greek extension as parliamentarian.
Maria Halloran, congresswoman representing the College of Arts and Sciences, became the new speaker.
Halloran agreed with Watkins, stressing the importance of staying efficient. She told Congress she wants to be an open resource for representatives to know how to use their time most efficiently.
“I think you guys come here with a lot of great ideas and a lot of purpose, but sometimes that can get lost in those little bureaucratic things we all have to deal with in Congress,” Halloran said.
Dan Niersbach, director of freshman intern program and deputy treasurer, gave a brief presentation on IUSA executives’ recent trip to the Association of Big Ten Students conference.
He provided the Congress with ideas that he said he thinks it could implement.
Some of these ideas included creating subcommittees with faculty members, providing a sexual assault workshop that is required for students each year and redistricting congressional seats so cultural centers have seats.
He also brought up ideas to reach out more to student athletes and create a bystander intervention program for bartenders and bouncers.
Ending the meeting, Kellogg led a presentation on the structure of debating to refresh previous members and inform new members of the Congress.
The presentation included vocabulary for representatives to use as they debate and the basic organization.
Watkins urged representatives to be leaders on campus, staying cautious and conscientious of what students are saying around campus.
“I think that our voice really is heard and it’s important to know that,” he said.
