On Tuesday night, the 105th ASUW Senate met for the final time before a new senate is elected and sworn in.
They discussed a number of bills, including topics such as ASTEC, plus/minus grading, head table positions, changes to senator requirements, endowment spending reform, legislation intent, local spending, tuition changes and additional rule changes.
The first bill discussed was Senate Bill No. 2618, ASTEC Changes in Eligibility and Requirements. According to the text of this bill it would allow ASTEC (Associated Students Technical Services) to be available for recruitment events, rather than just student-based events.
“We think ASTEC’s services at these types of events could be greatly beneficial to the university and to ASUW and give greater exposure to what is available at the University of Wyoming,” Senator of the College of Arts and Sciences and member of the ASTEC Ad Hoc Committee Alex Mulhall said.
The bill was passed with unanimous consent
The second piece of legislation discussed was Senate Resolution No. 2619, ASUW Recommendation on Plus/Minus Grading System. According to the bill’s text, this would give a recommendation to the UW Board of Trustees that the A minus grade be removed.
President of ASUW, Ben Wetzel, gave additional information on this topic. He said that the board of trustees’ want to move to a plus/minus system that is consistent across the entire campus. However, Wetzel said that ASUW could have an impact on whether there is an A minus or plus.
“The resolution and the survey are good fodder for the war, but until someone actively pursues faculty senate and gets them to agree with this body, you are dead in the water in front of the board of trustees,” Senator for the College of Law Joel Defebaugh said.
The resolution was passed unanimously.
Next was SB No. 2620, Revitalization of Head Table Positions. According to the text of this bill, the purpose was to change the positions and duties at the head table in an effort to streamline the head table.
After a series of amendments, several senators voiced concerns on how far it got from the original bill, how it wouldn’t change the head table much and how it would have to be amended even further. This bill was voted down unanimously.
The fourth piece of legislation was SB No. 2621, Changes to Senator Candidate Requirements. According to the bill, it would change the elections policy so that anyone who has completed 12 credit hours would be eligible to become a senator.
“I think this bill undermines first-year senate and the two bills that we just passed,” Ex-officio Representative from the United Multicultural Council Dusten Strock said.
He also said that first-year students already have a voting seat on the ASUW senate.
“The reason I wrote this is I wanted to give students more opportunities to participate in student government,” Senator of the College of Education Garrett Westlake said. “Sorry if I offend anyone, but this is big boy senate and this is really what matters.”
After discussion, this bill failed on a vote of 6-17-0.
Next was SB No. 2622, Endowment Reform Act. According to the bill, it would give the Budget and Planning Committee the power to alter trust agreements to increase utilization and efficiency, while also maintaining the original intention of the trust agreement. This bill was passed unanimously.
The next piece of legislation was SB No. 2623, Clarifying How to Determine the Intent of Legislation. According to the text of the bill, it would require future bills to have a section that clearly defines the intent of the legislation.
Jalynn Van Baalen, ex-officio representative from the Inter Fraternity Council, said that this would not only serve as a good way of determining intent, it would also better serve the student body as making it more accessible when posted online.
Senator Jordan Blazovich, of the college of health sciences, spoke against the bill.
“Frankly, I don’t think that by adding more information in the title, more words for people who, to be quite frank, might not read the whole bill, to add more information they might not read,” Blazovich said. “I don’t necessarily agree with that.”
The bill was passed 21-2-0.
SB No. 2625, ASUW Local Spending Act was next on the docket. According to the bill, it would require ASUW to choose local vendors over out-of-state vendors, up to a five percent increase. Wetzel spoke in favor of this, relaying a message from Trey Sherwood, Executive Director of the Mainstreet Alliance. One, she appreciates this change and that every dollar spent locally, would translate to four dollars of revenue in town. This bill was passed unanimously.
The second to last piece of legislation was SR No. 2627, ASUW Support of Huron Tuition Recommendations. According to the text of the resolution, it would put ASUW support behind the proposition from Huron to lower out-of-state tuition. This was passed unanimously.
The last piece of legislation that the 105th senate passed was SB No. 2628, ASUW Rule and Procedures Reformatting & Revision. According to the bill, this would change the layout of the rules and procedures, so that it is more accessible. This was passed unanimously.
