Press Clipping: Lehigh University - Student Senate reviews fall semester, approves 10 new clubs

Student Senate reviews fall semester, approves 10 new clubs

December 4, 2025
By Rachel Rose

Lehigh's Student Senate met on Tuesday to review the fall semester and discuss its goals for spring 2026. 

Senators also discussed their goals to improve the senate by becoming better connected to the community and developing a stronger identity as an organization that can be wholly understood by the student body. 

The meeting began with a presentation from Ryan Hatfield, ‘26, the chair of the Club Affairs Committee, who discussed the new clubs and organizations approved by the Senate that will now be formally recognized by Lehigh.

Of the 26 organizations that applied, he said 10 passed the approval process. Some included Clutch's Kettle — Lehigh's student section at sports games, the Hellenic Student Organization — a Greek organization to foster community, and the Sustainable Engineering Club.

Hatfield said the Club Affairs Committee has a specific rubric that has been developed over the past semesters to determine which clubs will be approved. It includes different sections on growth and development, progress toward goals and the ability to implement feedback.

The Senate then moved to a review of the semester, discussing each of the 10 committees' mission statements, their accomplishments over the past 14 weeks and goals for the spring.

Corrie Vakil, ‘27, the chair of the Bethlehem Outreach Committee, said the Senate and Community Service Office have had continuous collaboration to raise money for the Holiday Hope Chest program. This allows Lehigh students and staff to sponsor a child in the Bethlehem area and provide them a gift bag during the holiday season. 

Vakil said the Senate raised over $1,500 to sponsor 25 kids in the South Side and donate to local Fountain Hill senior citizens.

Kelechi Anyanwu, ‘26, the chair of the Allocations Committee, also spoke about creating a club-supplies lending library on Mountaintop Campus.

The Student Organization Resource Center currently provides supplies to clubs on Asa Packer campus, but Anyanwu said the Senate is hoping to expand it by creating a storage unit on Mountaintop for clubs to store larger materials.

Hatfield also said he hopes to create technological infrastructure and conduct a revamp of the center's website to facilitate this process.

"This will incentivize people to be more sustainable while also saving money," he said. 

After committee reviews, Drew Smith, ‘27, the vice president of Internal Affairs, opened the floor to senators and friends to share opinions about future improvements they want to see within the Senate. 

Splitting into small groups, senators were encouraged to have open dialogue with each other, discussing semester-long problems and improvements they hope to see. They also were able to post their opinions anonymously to an online forum. 

Six comments were made from attendees about struggles with the course registration process, particularly the difficulty of fulfilling catalog and degree requirements. 

Some of the anonymously posted responses included: "They need to offer more classes for humanities," "Classes should be planned two years in advance so students don't get blindsided," and "It's hard to take classes outside of your college."

Smith then discussed compensation and said senators should be paid. 

According to the American Student Government Association, 77% of elected student leaders are paid through salaries, tuition waivers, scholarships or other forms of compensation. 

Smith pointed to this statistic, which caused other senators to voice their agreement. Some said they believed the time and dedication students commit to the Senate should be compensated in some way.

Senator Braylon Ware, ‘27, then said he believes the Senate is disconnected from the Lehigh community, and not many students understand their internal operations.

Ware said the semester's work has mainly consisted of standardizing bylaws and internal structures. He said few students outside of the Senate are aware of these processes.

"At the core we aren't connected with our community, even if they're the ones who voted for us," Ware said. "I feel like it's always been a thing, but it's never addressed. We do need to bridge that gap."

Survey responses showed dissatisfaction with the way the Senate's operations over the year. Anonymous responses included, "Surveys are useless without action." 

"Identifying the right problems is an accomplishment in itself," Smith said. "Our internal polls show that Student Senate is not satisfied with the job Student Senate does."

Smith also said most students only know the Senate for how it handles clubs and finances.

He said he believes the Senate must adapt to be better known by the general student body for its other operations.

"Satisfaction is low — if that's the thing they know us for, then you have to make a change to that system," Smith said.