Women’s Center to Regain Physical Space, Resignation Announced at Senate Meeting
By Brynn Brown | October 19, 2026
A university official gave an update on the Women's Resouce Center and the chamber was informed of a senator's resignation at the Student Association (SA) Senate meeting on Oct. 7.
Sam Axley, the Interim Director of Student Engagement and Belonging, spoke with the senate before Fall Break, where he announced the new location for the Women’s Resource Center (WRC).
Despite not being the topic of his visit, Axley was asked questions about the WRC as soon as he yielded to questions from the senators.
“Can you give us [an answer] of what is going to happen to the Women’s Resource Center? Is it being taken away, is it being merged?,” asked Senator Alana Borrero.
Campus Center room B87, where the multicultural resource center used to be, will be the new space for the WRC, according to Axley. However, the room is first going to be painted and have its flooring switched out, meaning it could take upwards of several weeks to complete the project and re-open the space.
During the interim period, the WRC will continue to be staffed and will continue putting on programming, but will not have a permanent physical location.
The re-opening announcement comes after the university’s decision to close the center’s physical space was heavily criticized by students and after a petition against the decision circulated among the student body.
Axley said he is planning on meeting with students to figure out exactly what they want to see from the new center.
Axley has originally gone before the Senate to talk about an upcoming replacement for MyInvolvement.
“Everybody here absolutely loves MyInvolvement, right?” said Axley at the beginning of his time before the senate, met with groans in the chamber. “We’ve been looking at programs, we’ve settled on one called Ready Education.”
Ready education is a student engagement platform, similar to MyInvolvement, that Axley hopes will be fully in place next year.
New Senate Ethics Committee Passes
Also at the meeting, a new Ethics Committee bill passed following the resignation of the previous nominee for the committee chair.
Senator Abdul Kablaoui resigned from his position as senator prior to the Oct. 7 meeting.
“It is also my duty to inform you that Senator Kablaoui has resigned from the chamber, and we appreciate the work that he put in during his time here,” said Senate Chair Jaden Burke during her opening remarks.
The resignation comes after Chair Burke’s proposed committee was rejected at the last SA Senate meeting, in part due to debate around Kablaoui’s place as chair of the committee.
Former Senator Kabloui did not respond to a request for comment.
The new Ethics Committee appointments see Senator Damean Teagle as chair, Senator Dino Hukovic as Ranking Member, and Senators Jason Guo, Rabeya Nezrin, Faraz Shaikh, and Rupeeka Reddy Surakanti as its members.
These appointments made it through their confirmation vote.
Following the successful confirmation of this committee and its chair, Senator Burke’s Executive Committee was also able to go through, composed of the Senate Chair and Vice Chair serving as Chair and Ranking Member, and the Chair of each committee as the members.
“This new one, I think, is the best it's going to be,” said Chair Burke. “I’m excited for the future of ethics under new leadership.”
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