Student Senate met for the first time this semester on Sunday. More than a dozen issues were discussed as excitement for the new semester was clear.

Discussion of phone charging stations, board appointments and the prospective smoking ban dominated the discussion.

When talking about his goals for the Senate this semester, Student Senate President Matt Mullins listed bringing phone charger stations to campus at the top of his itinerary.

“I saw these phone charger stations at other campuses and thought that they’d be really useful for the students’ to have here,” Mullins said. “Not only will they be convenient and able to charge a large amount of students phones, but they will be able to advertise events going on on campus.”

There will be three phone charging stations around campus: one at the recreation center, another at the library and one at the student center. The estimated cost for these stations will be approximately $12,000.

Mullins also revealed his goals to restructure the student trustee position, which represents Wayne State College at the Board of Trustee meetings with the other state colleges.

“To be on the Board of Trustees is a big deal because it’s our student body’s singular voice that represents our needs and concerns and addresses them with the other colleges,” Mullins said.

His goal of restructuring the position is to “pursue a longer transition between incoming and outgoing student trustees in order to transfer more institutional knowledge and allow the incoming trustee to feel more comfortable taking on the position and the responsibilities that go along with it.”

A Student Trustee Election Committee will be assembled to help nominate three prospective students for the job. The committee will be made up of four to six Student Senators. Once approved, the names will go to the Nebraska State College System Office and then the Governor’s office for the final selection.

Also discussed at the meeting was potential disciplinary action for two senators who have not been present for a large number of Student Senate meetings.

“I don’t think it’s fair to the respective departments to have senators that aren’t here to represent their departments’ interests and concerns,” Mullins said. It would take a three-fourths majority vote by the senate to remove those senators from the senate. The vote to address the issue in the future was unanimous by all senators present.

The potential smoking ban that was passed by the Student Senate last semester was brought back up for discussion. Nothing had changed in terms of Student Senate’s position, but for the ban to pass it needs not only their approval but that of the Faculty Senate, Support Staff Senate and Professional Staff Senate, with President Rames having the final decision if the ban goes into the student and faculty handbooks. As of the meeting, the Faculty Senate was the only legislative body that had not given its input.

Also addressed was a $500 investment for a radio app for the college radio station. Currently, when programs are not on the air, the station largely plays alternative rock. With this investment, more modern music such as hip hop will be on air during those times.

Mullins also highlighted his excitement for a potential event app for the college.

“An event app would be really beneficial for the college. It would make it much easier to join clubs, provide information for when events are going to happen on campus and be able to tell students when movies are going to be on campus, among other things.

“I’m really looking forward to this semester, I think we are going to be able to get a lot accomplished,” Mullins said.