Senate fails to discuss student protester document

The University Senate special session meeting didn't happen Tuesday morning because of a lack of a quorum, Secretary of Faculties Manushag Powell said in an email.

In order for a special session to occur, the senate needed a majority (50 percent of senators plus one), which is 53 senators. There were 47 senators present for the Tuesday meeting, six short of a quorum.

“There could be another special session, but they would … basically have to start all over again,” Powell said.

“They would have to gather 20 signatures then petition for a meeting and go through the whole process, and if you can't get to quorum in May, I really don't think you're going to get to it in June.”

University senator Stephanie Masta said there were a couple things at play that led to the poor attendance: The meeting took place outside of their faculty contract, people already had commitments for that time; and senate meetings normally take place in the afternoon.

“If somebody reached out to me and said, 'Hey, we should try this again,' I would strongly discourage that,” Masta said. “Mostly because I think that the senate, in some ways, has made their choice and the further we get into summer … the less people are available.”

Arjun Janakan, an organizer for the “Purdue Liberation Zone” and one of the four students facing charges from the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, said the lack of attendance was good for “such short notice,” but also implied what senators thought about the document.

“It really shows where a lot of faculty views lie,” Janakan said.

Even though the senate meeting failed, Masta said she doesn't see this subject going away.

“The issue at play here is how universities use rules to chill student speech, student protest,” Masta said. “I personally have letters out to a couple of university administrators asking for them to withdraw violations against students.”