ASUW senators met last night for their weekly meeting, with discussion revolving around tuition, elections and involvement in the Freshmen Senate. There was a mixture of excitement and displeasure within the debates.
–President Kahler presented his past week’s schedule and his upcoming agenda. He brought up the controversy of the approval of a 5% tuition increase at the Board of Trustees last week. Even though the Board claimed the senators approved a 4% increase, Kahler acknowledged ASUW did not approve any tuition increase. He specified that 2% of the tuition increases will be going towards salaries.
– The Election committee reported on the success of this year’s elections thus far. At the end of last year’s primaries there were 1,900 total votes. As of yesterday, ASUW reported 1,600 students had voted, or 16% of the total student body. The goal is to break 2,000 votes. This Monday at 7:30 pm in the Union Ballroom, candidates will be debating and there will be an open question and answer session.
– RSO funding board passed one request for the Central Asian Student Association. The amount was $6,240 to help fund Social Awareness Day.
–The meeting then progressed into an extensive discussion about senate bill #2423. This bill requires ASUW senators to attend two Freshmen Senate meetings per semester. The goal is to have experienced senators’ support and assist freshmen senators with any questions they might have during meetings. An amendment was proposed to change the requirement from two meetings to one optional meeting. Six freshmen senators were in attendance and argued against the amendment. “This amendment leaves the Freshmen Senate as a last resort – which is not the right kind of communication,” Freshman Senator Chris Young said. The amendment proceeded to fail and the bill was passed.
– In new business, senate bill #2425 was presented for its first reading. In addition, nominations were made for the Official of the Month.
-Senators also urged people to volunteer for Shepard’s Symposium on Social Justice starting April 3. Along with this, participation in Greek Week, the International Justice Mission and ASUW elections were encouraged.
–The meeting ended with Senator Anderson strongly voicing his opinion against fellow Senators receiving excused tardies.
The next ASUW meeting will take place in the Senate Chambers on Monday, April 7 at 7 pm.
