The ASUO Constitution Court’s empty seats have been filled, and the ASUO Student Senate has made it through one more Wednesday night meeting.
During an hour and a half of appointments, special requests, and other business, the Senate appointed two more members to the five-member court, which means the body is now complete.
The Senate unanimously appointed second-year law student Richard Jameson, who said he was “solid analytically.””I would feel very comfortable having him on the court,” Senate President Peter Watts said.
Political science major Alan Tauber was the undergraduate addition, and he said his deep interest in law made him a good candidate.
Several senators spoke in favor of Tauber, including Sen. Jennifer Greenough, who said that “he has a very high level of integrity.”
Plowing through another two appointments, the Senate placed two students on the Senate Programs Finance Committee: third-year biochemistry major Aaron Weck and junior pre-psychology major Lawrence Gillespie. Weck was a member of the PFC last year.
In addition to appointments, the Senate passed three special requests, ranging from $999 to $38 in surplus funds.
The first request came from the YWCA, which asked for $475 from surplus to help cover the cost of publishing its new magazine, Identity.
YWCA magazine coordinator Alissa Scott said the magazine — which is brand-new this year and thus was not included in the group’s budget last year — will focus on issues such as sexism, racism and diversity.
Many senators supported the request, saying that allowing more voices to be heard on campus is an important thing.
“I just think the poverty of dialogue on issues of diversity on this campus is something we need to think about,” Sen. Serene Khader said.
The Senate passed a request from the ASUO Executive asking for $999 to help cover some of the registration costs for a leadership conference in Portland. The Northwest Student Leadership Conference takes place this weekend, and students from several ASUO groups will attend.
A final request of $38 was approved for the Future Lawyers Association to cover the cost of renting the Knight Library Browsing Room earlier this term. The room was rented to host a speech by Judge Paul DeMuniz, who was then running for a spot on the state Supreme Court.
Land Air Water approached the senate with something a bit different Wednesday night: It sought the senate’s opinion on a potential request. LAW hosts the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference each spring, an event that attracts more than 3,000 people from around the country.
The group would like to present a keynote speaker from Madagascar but recently realized a plane ticket from that country would cost about $6,000.
LAW has already raised $24,000 for the conference and the Senate budgeted the group $6,000 for this year. LAW said that it may be possible to raise an additional $1,000 or so before the conference, but $6,000 was not possible.
Most senators agreed the request was something they would either consider or support if and when it comes in the spring.