DeKALB — The Student Government Association swore in Sohum Khaladkar as a new senator at its Senate meeting on Sunday. 

Sohum Khaladkar, a sophomore marketing student, spoke in front of the Senate and outlined the goals he wanted to meet as a senator. 

He addressed student unemployment, taking steps to be able to reopen closed dining and recreational spaces on campus, and taking steps to make students of color feel safer on campus. Khaladkar outlined his goals to increase student worker wages to encourage more students to work on-campus jobs and to increase security presence on campus. 

“I know that increasing security can be a little controversial, especially with armed guards,” Khaladkar said, suggesting use of security cameras to increase campus safety instead of increased police presence. 

The motion to appoint Khaladkar passed unanimously. 

There was also a motion to pass an Enrolled Senate Bill, which outlined changes in expectations and roles for the SGA.

Among these changes was to strike the Director of Advertising and Director of Athletics positions, delegating the Director of Advertising’s role to the City of DeKalb and the Director of Athletics responsibilities between other SGA directors. The bill moved to strike the positions for having less than a twenty-hour workload, unlike other SGA director positions. 

The Senate first voted on a motion to remove the striking of the Director of Advertising position from the bill. This motion was denied in a vote of nine to five, leaving the clause of the bill that eliminated the position intact. 

The Senate then voted on a motion to remove the striking of the Director of Athletics and Recreation position from the bill. This motion passed unanimously, retaining the position. 

Due to the changes that would have to be made to the bill following the removal of the clause to strike the Director of Athletics and recreation, the senate then voted unanimously to table the bill for their Oct. 17 meeting pending revision to the bill. 

The Senate ended the meeting by announcing the volunteer opportunities that they were hosting; their huskie cleanup crew, a tailgate cleanup event, on Oct. 16, and their NIU river cleanup event on Oct. 17. They also announced that there were volunteer opportunities at STEM Fest on Oct. 24.