While spots remain unfilled in the Marquette Student Government senate, students elected four freshmen senators to the Marquette University Student Government last week. An unsettled election for the commuter seat will be decided by the senate next week.
Hannah Bobrytzke, who is in the College of Education, will represent Cobeen Hall. Murphy Quill, a student in the College of Business Administration, will represent McCormick Hall. Cormac Brown, who studies in the College of Arts & Sciences, will represent Abbottsford Hall, Nick Stanko, who studies in the College of Business Administration, will represent O’Donnell Hall.
Bobrytzke, a native of Carey, Ill., said she is excited to be involved with MUSG during her first year at Marquette.
“I definitely want to get involved in the planning of events,” Bobrytzke said. “I think it’s fun to do things that people will enjoy.”
“I’ve always been a leader in different groups I’ve been involved in,” Bobrytzke added. “I didn’t realize it at first, but then people started telling me I was one, and then I started taking it seriously and trying to become a better one.”
Quill is a native of Racine, Wis. and has family ties to the university through his uncle, who is a Marquette alumnus. Quill ran unopposed in his election last week.
“I joined the senate because I thought it would be a real good place to make progress and see results on campus,” Quill said.
Quill said he hopes to be involved in the Business Administration committee or the academics committee. He cited the recently passed Good Samaritan Policy as an example of something that will make a difference for the Marquette community, which is a goal of his as a senator.
MUSG President Sam Schultz, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said he believes the new freshmen senators will do well, but doesn’t expect any grand impact to be made right away.
“There are a set of universal standards for senators, such as showing up to office hours and contributing to discussion in committee,” Schultz said. “I don’t think there are any expectations that they’ll walk in and author legislation right away, but the more they learn and get involved will help committees be more productive throughout the year.”
Schultz, who was a senator his freshman year, said the best thing for the freshman senators to do is find the issues they are passionate about and not be afraid to reach out to people to work for results.
The freshman MUSG senators will be joined by at least two other freshmen in the coming weeks. The race for the commuter senate seat resulted in a tie between two freshman Mogen Frenkel, a student in the College of Health Sciences, and Aliya Manjee, from the College of Arts & Sciences. That race will be decided by a senate vote Sept. 26.
There is also an open senate seat in McCormick Hall, which will be filled by the McCormick Hall council. Another open seat, Straz Tower, could also potentially be filled by a freshman, since both freshmen and sophomores live there.
