Associated Students, Inc. President Selena Farnesi was happy
with her Senate after a 15-1 vote passed the updated bylaw
which will include the new executive position.
James Ramirez / The Collegian

Six days following an Associated Students, Inc. Senate meeting, a meeting President Selena Farnesi called an “embarrassment,” an updated bylaw that includes the new position of Vice President of External Affairs passed with a 15-1 vote.

“I’m really happy that they passed the bylaws that include the election code,” Farnesi said. “That means we can move forward past some of the debacles we’ve had in the past, and make sure our election process coming up is smooth and clean and that everyone is held accountable to the same standards.”

Students voted for the new position in late January, and passed the referendum 268-202 last Thursday.

A two-thirds vote from the Senate was needed to update the bylaw, which would recognize the new position, however, three senators voted against the bylaw, while three other senators were not in attendance to contribute to the vote.

Farnesi isn’t exactly sure what changed the senators’ minds that resulted in the 15-1 vote on Wednesday.

“I’m not really sure what’s going on there; that strikes me as kind of interesting,” Farnesi said. “I think some people may have had a change of heart after hearing some of the student’s sentiments regarding the no-vote earlier.”

Senator Jose Luis Nava stood by his previous decision and was the lone “no” vote against his 15 colleagues.

Along with the updated bylaw, the vacant senator’s seat was filled at Wednesday’s meeting.

Mike Pronovost, a business administration student, was appointed as Senator for Student Affairs with a 16-0 vote mid-meeting and joined the rest of the senators at the table for the duration of the time.

Pronovost applied for Senate last semester, but didn’t meet the requirement of being at Fresno State for at least a semester.

“I wanted to apply to senate just so I could help have an influence here on campus ”” help get voices heard really,” Pronovost said. “I wanted to get involved with the leadership mostly, and kind of inspire other students to join and help run campus.”

Farnesi has high hopes for Pronovost and believes his business background will be beneficial to the school.

“He worked for us as a student representative on some campus-wide committees, a lot of which dealt with student affairs, specifically the Student Success Task Force,” Farnesi said. “So, because of his previous work and his previous enthusiasm, we were happy to be able to get him on the Senate.”

Pronovost was one of the 100 entrepreneurs invited to the White House back in November to share his business, Powerband, a program that speeds up Internet connection.

Dr. Paul Oliaro, the president of Student Affairs, also sat in on Wednesday’s meeting to update the Senate of the technical problem with the pay-for-print services.

Oliaro said he received a call from the Key Card Office notifying him that the server for the pay-for-print was down.

As of Thursday evening, the pay-for-print service has been restored and is available for students again.

The next Senate meeting is on Feb. 15 at 4 p.m. in the University Student Union, Room 312/314.