The first faculty senate meeting of the year kicked off Monday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. in the Fieldhouse and saw President Le Roy as chair and English professor Jennifer Holberg as vice-chair.

New faces to this year’s faculty senate included math professor Michael Bolt, economics professor Adel Abadeer and three new representatives from student senate.

Following an opening prayer by French professor Vicki DeVries, the group proceeded to nominate a new secretary to replace the vacant spot left by former economics professor Steve McMullen. An overwhelming vote then saw the nomination of Jack Du Mez as the new secretary for the school year.

Reports provided by President Le Roy, provost Cheryl Brandsen and VP for enrollment management Russ Bloem oversaw talk on the budget, educational framework and the annual day 10 report.

Items brought forth for information for the Committee on Governance included the Annual Committee Reports and the Dissolution of Student Discipline Committee: Changes to SDC Appellate Board’s Mandate.

The majority of the time spent during this session was focused on the Engineering Sustainability Designation. Following extensive debate provided by various members, faculty senate overwhelmingly voted to table the discussion until a college-wide policy on such designation is created.

In light of talk on sustainability, faculty senate also voted to go “paperless” in moving away from printing the dozens of pages associated with a session’s agenda.

As the clock approached 10 p.m., the session was quickly closed with prayer by dean Matt Walhout.