On Jan. 23, Student Senate met to discuss eight bills and heard about construction plans for the new Academic Success Center in D.H. Hill Library. Five bills dealt with confirming commissioners to the Board of Elections, all of which passed. In addition, senators heavily debated proper and representative seat allocation for each college.
Mike Mullen, vice chancellor and dean for the Division of Academic and Student Affairs (DASA), Carrie Zelna, associate vice chancellor for DASA and Greg Raschke, senior vice provost and director of the libraries, presented information on the plans and construction of the new Academic Success Center at D.H. Hill Library.
According to Mullen, the construction for this project is anticipated to take place after graduation in May 2019 and will continue until August 2020.
According to Mullen, this $15 million project will cause construction to come onto the Brickyard, resulting in the primary entrance of the library being shifted to Hillsborough Street, starting in May, during the construction.
Zelna stated that the project aims to have an Academic Success Center, Undergraduate Research Office and a Data & Technology Commons on the new second and third floor of the library. In total, this project will create 420 new seats for student use in the library.
According to Mullen, no student fees will be used for this project.
Senate Appointments
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Aitana Blevins, second-year studying engineering
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Jonah Hazelwood, a second-year studying economics
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Molly Vanhoy, first-year in the College of Sciences
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Sarah Kate Connor, first-year studying genetics
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Hannah Miller, first-year in management
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Nicole D’Souza, second-year studying economics and spanish
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Anna Petrova, a graduate student studying industrial design
Board of Elections Confirmations
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SR47– Lee Daniel, a third-year studying biology
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SR48-Bradley Downs, first-year transfer studying political science and economics
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SR49– Samantha Saunders, fourth year studying polymer and color chemistry and anthropology
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SR50-Ananya Tummallapalli, third-year studying neurobiology
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SR51– Reuben Wilson, fifth-year studying crop science and soil science
These five resolutions would confirm five members to the Student Government Board of Elections. The first four have been confirmed with one-year terms as elections commissioners, while Wilson will fill an unexpired term that continues until the rest of this semester.
All five resolutions passed, and all five members were confirmed.
SR46 – Neal Chair of Board of Elections Reconfirmation Act
This legislation reconfirms Lilly Neal, a fourth-year studying psychology and political science, to her position as Board of Elections chair for the Spring 2019 semester.
The legislation was passed with 45 votes in support and 5 against.
The number of seats allocated to each college to elect representatives to the Senate must be redistributed every three years. The last appointment occurred in January 2016.
The resolution aims to change the number of seats, but also changes the wording in a few locations of the Student Body Statutes, such as referencing the College of Textiles as the Wilson College of Textiles.
This resolution was the subject of heavy debate due to disagreements about seat allocation. Seat counts are based on a variety of factors, but primarily seek to proportionally represent students of each college. Policy also states that each college also has a minimum of two seats, which is not necessarily proportional when compared to the numbers of larger colleges.
Additionally, a lot of the debate also centered around issues of using predicted versus current populations per college. For example, in fall 2018, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences had a population of 2,197, but is predicted to sit at 4,230 in 2020.
There was a failed vote to move the legislation back to the apportionment committee, with 14 in support and 35 against.
The legislation was then passed with 37 votes in support and 13 against. It will now be sent to Student Body President Jess Errico, a fifth-year studying mechanical and aerospace engineering, for her signature or veto.
GB53 – Campaign Spending Reform Act
Because Student Government campaigns can potentially be significant burdens on candidates financially, in an effort to make running for office more affordable, this resolution would reduce campaign spending limits by 50 percent or more for several offices.
Senators will now be allowed a maximum of $50 for general elections, down from $200. Additionally, runoff elections would have spending capped to 25 percent of expense limits for general elections.
Over the past four years, average spending for the Student Body President and Vice President, including general and runoff, was $847.03, according to the resolution. With this change, the race would be capped at $400 for the general election, a 50 percent cut from the current $800.
Student Senate president, student body treasurer and student chief justice would all be capped at $260 for the general election, down from $525 for all three.
This resolution would also amend the Student Body Statutes to allow usage of Student Body Funds to assist those looking to campaign for a Student Government office position. This follows the proposition made by Errico and Daniel at the last Senate meeting to subsidize some part of elections.
The legislation passed with 39 votes in support and 8 against. It will now be sent to Errico for her signature or veto.
