The UT Senate of College Councils voted to confirm next year’s executive board appointments at their final virtual assembly meeting of the semester Thursday.

The executive board members were nominated by Senate President Alcess Nonot, a human development and family science junior, and Vice President Isaac James, a Plan II and government sophomore.

Nonot and James appointed financial director Vivek Pokkula, internal director Nathan Huang, accounting sophomore, policy director Steven Ding, administrative director Yukta Sunkara, communications director Yash Purohit, finance and anthropology sophomore, and membership director Apoorva Chintala, management information systems and Plan II sophomore.

Pokkula, a finance and government sophomore, said his main goals include publishing monthly budget and expenditure reports to allow councils to monitor their spending and ensure student organizations receive the funding from the Student Services Budget Committee. He said if the fall semester is moved completely online, he wants to ensure Senate will get at least 50% of the funding they are allocated per year.

“I want to address rollover issues that Senate has experienced due to our semester being cut off short,” Pokkula said. “When we’re working on our budget for the coming year, I want to secure our funding from the Student Services Budget Committee and other relevant entities to make sure that we receive the amount that we think is fair and that takes into account the events of this past semester.” 

Ding, a management and information systems and urban studies sophomore, said he wants to focus on reimagining the policy director position to embody a “warrior spirit, servant’s heart and fun-loving attitude.”

Ding said his goals also include increasing student input to represent the University community more accurately, more collaboration among councils and committees and having impactful meetings with administrators.

“I really want to serve not only Senate but also the student body,” Ding said. “I want to increase collaboration with councils and new committees and … (ensure) that the new (administrative) leadership follows through on the promises made this year regarding professors that were accused of sexual misconduct.”

Sunkara, a biochemistry and human development and family sciences sophomore, said she wants to establish an efficient structure for all assembly meetings and ensure that all Senate councils represent the voices of their colleges. She said it is important to enforce attendance for council members to make everyone’s voices heard.

“Even in previous general assemblies, we have had discussions and concerns about the effectiveness and relatability to general assembly that a lot of councils have,” Sunkara said. “It’s not just the council showing up but it’s also internal Senate and all of the councils who do show up showing that they also care about what we’re discussing at general assembly.”