A Student Senate bill that would request funding of the Student Recreation Center be transferred to University administration was sent back to committee after Wednesday night’s meeting.
If the bill were to take effect, a newly created fee, separate from the incidental fee, would fund the operations of the rec center.
Senators who sponsored the bill said at last week’s meeting that oversight of the new fee would likely be in the hands of the Student Recreation Center Advisory Board and suggested that Senators be appointed to the board to oversee the fee.
The Senate took no action on Senate Bill 28, but had a short discussion because several rec center employees came to the meeting after seeing the bill on the agenda.
“The rec center situation isn’t going to go away any time soon but we need to make sure this is on the agenda for next week,” Sen. Athan Papailiou said.
Richard Pryor, chairman of the advisory board, said the board is submitting a referendum to be placed on the ballot in the upcoming spring election that would have basically the same effect as Senate Bill 28.
Pryor said that if the advisory board is put in charge of a newly-created fee, it would likely use the bylaws of the Student Health Advisory Committee, which oversees the funding of the Student Health Center, as a model for how it will function in the future.
“(The budget) is very complex and does require a lot of consideration, but I’d like to echo Sen. Papailiou’s sentiment that it’s not going to go away,” Pryor said. “If anything it’s going to deteriorate with time. This situation must be resolved.”
Physical Activity and Recreation Sports Director Dennis Munroe said he does not want to be perceived as trying to direct what happens with this bill or any referendums.
“I really want this to be a student thing,” he said. “I don’t want anyone to feel pressure from us. You need to feel comfortable with however this works out. You, as students, need to feel comfortable that the appropriate oversight is there.”
Senators agreed to give their recommendations on the bill to the rules committee and it will be put back on the agenda for next week.
The Senate also voted to pass the 2007-08 budget for the EMU Board. For only the second time in history, less than half of the EMU’s budget (47 percent) comes from the incidental fee, EMU Board Chairwoman Chess Patricolo said.
Prior to the budget season, the EMU Board was given a benchmark to increase the portion of the budget funded by the incidental fee by no more than 5.5 percent. The new budget came in at exactly this mark, but Patricolo said it came at a cost.
Because state-mandated increases in things such as wages and the state motor pool are out of the board’s control, the board had to make cuts in several budgets and could not even provide funding to maintain current services.
Senators commended the board for coming in at the benchmark and voted to approve the budget.
At the start of the meeting, Senate President Sara Hamilton, who is running for ASUO president, said that next week she will ask the Senate to approve her stepping down for the remainder of the election, saying it would be inappropriate for her to serve in a position of power while running for office.
“Last year, people who held positions of power had the responsibility of disciplinary action,” she said.
Vice President Jonathan Rosenberg, who is also running for ASUO President, joked that it was not his idea to step down but then said he thought it was a good idea. If both Hamilton and Rosenberg step down, Sen. Ombudswoman Natalie Kinsey will preside over the meetings until the election cycle is over.
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