Tuesday night's back-to-back Student Senate meetings were filled with tearful goodbyes and words of encouragement, as old senators left and new senators sat through their first meeting.
Independent Sen. Audrey Goldman and Gator Sen. Suzanne Hershman were chosen as the new Senate president and Senate Pro-tempore, respectively, following the departure of Senate President Jordan Johnson, who was elected as UF's next Student Body president last week.
Between goodbyes, senators also got down to business, passing one bill and one resolution.
The bill, which passed unanimously, gave $35,130.86 to the Board of College Councils, which is responsible for divvying up funds and distributing them among various college councils on campus.
The passed resolution was in support of Gator Ride, a student organization that hopes to provide transportation to UF students around Gainesville who are unable to drive responsibly because of alcohol consumption.
A resolution is a piece of legislation which presents an opinion but takes no action.
Gator Ride was denied funding from the Senate several weeks ago because of liability issues.
A copy of the resolution will be sent to Tigert Hall and given to UF's General Council to access, before SG reconsiders allotting funding.
Jared Hamil was also approved to fill the empty District E seat.
Stephen Lawson, chairman of SG's Elections Commission, also stopped by to validate the results from last week's SG election, which included the results for Student Body president and the 50 filled Student Senate seats as well as the three referendum questions and the one initiative that passed.
At the beginning of the meeting, many senators stood to speak.
Unite Party Sen. Will Harrell summed up his thoughts by means of a short quote.
"I thank my God in all my remembrances of you," he said, referring to the past memories and friends he made inside of Senate. Harrell also thanked his parents, who supported him throughout his four years at UF and even came to hear his remarks.
Meanwhile, Progress Party Sen. Dave Schneider welcomed the new senators by laying out the tasks and challenges ahead of them.
"We have work to do," he said. "We are facing budget cuts on the horizon, and now more than ever Student Government needs to be the soap box that speaks out to administration."
After a nearly four-hour meeting, old senators representing various UF colleges and classes departed. Their newly elected replacements joined senators who were elected to represent on- and off-campus living areas in the fall, to start the second meeting of the night.
About an hour of public debate ensued, where senators voiced opinions about who should become the new Senate president and Senate pro-tempore.
During the discussion, re-elected graduate representative Sen. Ryan O'Mara stood to announce his resignation and to speak about the methods used by his fraternity when he was an undergraduate to sway elections at UF.
O'Mara said he was forced to collect at least two "I-Voted" stickers and that members would be fined $50 if they failed to vote and recruit a friend to do the same.
O'Mara, who recently ran in the Progress Party this semester, ran with the Gator Party in the past.
"I knew my speech would piss people off but it's because it's the truth," he said. "If it wasn't, people wouldn't have an issue with it."
