New Speaker Smith Oversees Discussion on Daily Paws Overhaul

Kay Bailey

She/Her

Editor-in-Chief

2/10/25

A Plymouth State Student Senate resolution officially made Taylor Smith the newest PSSS Speaker, following Will Loughlin’s graduation at the end of the fall semester. Smith replaced fill-in speaker Millie Cejka, PSSS’s Parliamentarian, after the resolution, introduced by Student Body President Liam Leavitt, was unanimously approved.

Resolution R.AY2425.2 changed PSSS’s organizational bylaws to waive the eligibility requirements for the Speaker, Student Body President, and Student Trustee positions. Before the resolution, a Speaker needed at least 2 years of PSSS membership, with a preferred 1 year as an officer. “Taylor technically doesn’t qualify to be speaker as of right now,” Leavitt noted before the resolution passed. With the changes, a potential speaker would only need to have 3 semesters of matriculation at PSU; no PSSS experience needed.

In his proposal, Leavitt cited accessibility as his main reason for offering the requirement change. “In the past there were a lot more people willing to do Student Senate,” he said. “But now, because of the fact people aren’t joining, it’s harder.” With the requirements for Student Body President and Student Trustee additionally paired down to only 3 semester matriculation requirement, Levitt hopes that PSSS membership will improve, with time.

USSB Trustee Ethan Dupuis is looking to make some changes in the future too, though his plans sit on a higher, institution level. Dupuis hopes to change Plymouth’s gen-ed requirements, adding a “personal finance” course, as he calls it, to the graduation requirements. The change would be a larger step in overhauling the gen-ed requirements as a whole, Dupuis, who plans to present his initiative to the gen-ed committee in the coming weeks, said.

Amanda Grazioso, Director of Residential Life and Dining Services, and Bryan Krieger, Chartwells Resident District Manager, sought student voices on a few potential dining changes. Aside from some additional themed dining events being added to the yearly schedule, similar to Late Night Breakfast, Krieger is looking for a way to restructure retail operations on campus.

The Langdon Woods cafe has already been replaced with automatic machines, and Krieger is considering similar changes at Daily Paws, located in the Hartman Union Building.

That’s one of three potential solutions Krieger proposed to make Daily Paws, which currently operates at a deficit, profitable. Krieger also proposed replacing smoothie and acai bowls with automated machines and serving solely Monte Alto products at Daily Paws, and contracting the space to Monte Alto entirely. PSSS representatives were staunchly against the idea of completely replacing the cafe with hot-food vending machines, and leaned more heavily towards contracting the space out to Monte Alto.

Though Krieger and Grazioso claimed they have no preference yet on which option they go with, they did note that the smoothie and acai bowl offerings would be ceased regardless.