SA’s Feb. 3 senate meeting had updates on ongoing projects, SA initiatives, and the passing of motions to appoint new accountants on the appropriations committee and a new senator for the International Students Affairs Committee (ISAC). In addition, the meeting failed to pass a motion that required the Speaker of the Senate to “reach out to senators for feedback” before sending mass communications to the student body.
Mock Registration
UR Student, the new administrative system, is having an upcoming mock registration to give students an idea of what to expect when it is officially implemented. The aim is to find any bugs or kinks in the system before then. A date for the mock registration is yet to be announced.
Lab Fees
SA is looking into finding a way to waive course lab fees for low-income students. Several government members are looking into specifics. Updates are expected to come soon.
Campus Services
Starting Jan. 27, water bottle company Swell held a three-day event in Wilson Commons giving away free stickers and water bottles to students. Some students missed out on the three-day window and inquired whether Swell would come back to distribute more bottles. The staffers were paid for three days, but junior and Campus Services Chair Alexander Pavlicin said he would talk to Director of Campus Dining Services and Auxiliary Operations Cam Schauf about having them potentially come back to give away water bottles left over from the event.
ACJC
An appeal was set to happen on Jan. 31, but a day before it, both parties — Students Associations and Appropriations Committee and Tae Kwon Do — came to a settlement.
Student Body Emails
A motion to pass the Senate Bill to Establish Expectations for Communications to the Student Body at Large failed. As explained by senator senior Tayfun Sahin, the revised bill proposed that “the speaker should be reaching out to senators for feedback prior to sending out mass communications to the student body.”
Some senators expressed concerns about the bill and accountability, since the Speaker for the Senate would be required to contact all senators, but would have no responsibility to receive or act on their feedback.
Because this was a vote to update SA’s bylaws, 12 senators needed to vote in favor of the motion for it to pass. Only nine did. Five abstained, and one voted no.
