During the final meeting of the semester, Student Senate passed a bill concerning textbook adoption deadlines and voted against reapportioning Senate seats.
Zach Adams, Student Senate president, announced the discussion of the bill would not include any amendments prior to beginning debate.
According to James Hankins, Student Senate president pro tempore, there would be no amendments permitted because of the amount of time the bill required in a previous senate meeting.
“We all got mad as heck for two hours last time debating this bill,” Hankins, a junior in political science, said. “This is why there are no more amendments.”
Greg Doucette, senator for Lifelong Education, said the bill did not resemble the original proposal at all.
“This bill [has] been compromised to death,” Doucette, a junior in computer science, said.
Hankins said he agreed with Doucette.
“This bill now is kind of like having your fiancee decide she wants to be a man but you still love her,” Hankins said.
Laura Miller, a senator for at-large first-year students and freshman in communication, said she did not understand the lack of representation for specific classes.
Sara Yasin, student senator for the College of Textiles, said she agreed with Miller.
“At the least we should each have two senators,” Yasin said in regards to the one seat allocated for the textiles and design schools. “It’s putting too much on one person.”
The bill regarding apportionment for senate seats failed to pass with a two-thirds majority.
Following the failure of the apportionment bill, the senate moved on to a bill regarding textbook adoptions.
According to the bill submitted, N.C. State currently has the “lowest percentage of textbook adoptions submitted by the deadline of any of the 16 UNC-System schools.”
The bill calls for Provost Larry Nielsen to “require faculty to submit their textbook adoptions by the N.C. State Bookstore-established deadlines.”
John Mickey, a senator for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, said instead of just identifying the problem of textbook fees, senate needs to be offering solutions. He said he thinks this bill has gone through all of the necessary doors to do that.
“We just have to show that we want cheaper textbooks,” Will Quick, student body president, said.
According to Mickey, a sophomore in political science, the textbook bill will be on the agenda for next Tuesday’s faculty senate meeting.
The bill passed with consent and minor debate.
Deb Luckadoo, the director of Talley Student Center activities, also introduced the topic regulations for student-leadership positions.
According to Luckadoo, the new policy requires all students in major leadership positions to have a minimum GPA of 2.5. If a student leader’s GPA falls below 2.5, he or she is required to engage in a “recovery strategy” with his or her organization’s adviser and an academic adviser. The policy also requires student organizations to employee a faculty adviser.
Lock Whiteside, student body chief justice, said he objects to the policy’s creation because students were not included in drafting the proposal.
“Why wasn’t I asked to participate in this process?” Whiteside said.
Benton Sawrey, a senator for the College of Managment, said he doesn’t agree with the new requirement of employing a faculty adviser.
“I don’t want a faculty adviser meddling in my affairs,” Sawrey, a sophomore in business management, said.
Adam Compton, student body treasurer, said he agreed with Sawrey.
“I’m not going to discuss my personal problems with my adviser,” Compton, a junior in construction engineering and management, said.
Tierza Watts, associate director of the Center for Student Leaders, Ethics and Public Service, said students need faculty advisers to help them get a degree, “get out of here and have a life.”
“This policy would allow us to work with the students and help them graduate,” she said.
Luckadoo said she is interested in “developing relationships that are supportive.”
“We are very interested in working with students and supporting students,” she said.
Whiteside said he encourages students to fight against the proposal.
“The time has come for student government to get a backbone and stand up for all students on this campus,” he said. “I look forward to working with each and every one of you to kill this proposal.”
Adams ended the discussion of the new policy and said “there will definitely be some passionate research from this group.”