Boca House adopts resolution against HB 999, promotes 3 members
Resolution BRHR 2023-12 went on the floor today and was passed unanimously, and three members of the House were confirmed to new positions.
House Adopts Resolution
BRHR 2023-12, “Standing Against the Proposed HB 999 and SB 266,” recommends FAU faculty and staff to ensure the security of diverse programming, equal opportunities, and inclusive experiences.
Senate Bill 266 requires all Florida state universities to revise the process of core class establishment and annually report the cost of research expenses.
“The above bills will set a precedent for future Florida State Legislatures, permitting them to censor knowledge and prevent education in favor of the advancement of personal political agendas,” reads BRHR 2023-12.
The resolution states that FAU Student Government will work with other Florida student government programs to use all available resources to prevent the passing of House Bill 999 and SB 266 in order to protect affected students, faculty, and staff.
Confirmations
Three members of the House were confirmed to new positions at the Boca House meeting this Friday, including the Police Liasion position, which was recently moved from the Governer’s Administrative Cabinet to the House Administrative Cabinet.
Priscila Buono
Formerly the library liasion, grad student Priscila Buono has officially been confirmed as the new Ways & Means chair.
The Ways & Means chair is responsible for working with the Campus Based Budget Action Committee to oversee the budget of the entire House and allocate funds for any new initiatives proposed by representatives, while making sure the budget is being utilized efficiently.
“We can see how the money can be allocated – what we can provide to the students to make FAU the school that they really want to be,” said Buono.
Marc Forrester
Freshman Marc Forrester has been confirmed as the new House Secretary. After spending the past month as a representative, taking extensive notes and greatly paying attention to detail in meetings, he decided to apply for the position.
“One of the first things I do when I attend meetings is that I open the notes app on my computer and I just start typing,” said Forrester.
As the new secretary, Forrester will be taking writing agendas, taking meeting notes, writing the minutes, and organizing important House documents. In addition to these tasks, Forrester wants to create accessible versions of documents to increase readability.
Justin Gadson
The police liasion position is returning student government for the first time since 2014 and Justin Gadson, junior, is the one holding the title.
Previously, the Police Liasion position was part of the Governer’s Administrative Cabinet (GAC) and has now been moved to the House Administrative Cabinet (HAC) to allow the liasion to work directly with the House of Representatives while accounting for schedule conflicts.
Gadson chose to run for this new position because of his passion for law enforcement and campus safety, he is employed with the FAU Police Department as a community service officer and has plans to better ensure safety on the Boca Raton campus.
Some of his initiatives as Police Liasion include rehabilitating the blue light systems on campus, initiating a Coffee With the Chief program that encourages continuous dialogue with the community about campus safety. He also began working to implement an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) safety kit and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) lessons.
“It’s important to have someone who’s there to bridge the gap between student government and the police department. And we haven’t had one so I was like, it’s time for me to step up and take charge,” said Gadson.
Elisabeth Gaffney is a Staff Writer for the University Press. For more information on this article or others, you can reach Elisabeth at egaffney2022@fau.edu or DM her on Instagram @elisabethgaff.
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