The Student Senate voted down a resolution supporting the preservation of McArthur Court Wednesday night after senators tried to reinsert language about University athletic funding. The Senate also again denied funding from surplus to the Ad Club, which has no budget for the year because the club didn’t go through the budgeting process last year.
The Mac Court measure needed a two-thirds majority to pass and fell one vote short.
Last Friday, Senate Rules Committee amended the resolution which was drafted by student Jonathan O. Bowers. The committee removed language that dealt with the sources of athletic department funding and the administration’s use of eminent domain laws in building a new basketball arena.
But last night senators attempted to add those sections to the measure, which lead to fierce debate and eventual failure for a measure that had seemed likely to pass. Several senators said they did not like reconsidering the work of the committee. Bowers, the author of the resolution, said he would be willing to accept the revised language.
Ten senators voted in favor of the simple statement of support for the preservation of Mac Court, four voted against it, and Sen. Lauren Zavrel abstained. The resolution can be drafted again and sent back to the Rules Committee.
Representatives from the Ad Club returned with a request for $7,005, down from $10,000 last week.
Sen. Neil Brown told the group to meet with him or another senator during the week and come back with a smaller number.
Senators spent more than half an hour debating how much money the group urgently needed. Senate Vice President Donnie Kim suggested giving the group $3,700 to pay for expenses not related to a competition that will be held in spring. The trip has to be booked during winter term, club representatives said.
“I feel the whole (budgeting) process is trying to be accomplished through this special request, and that’s not good,” Sen. Nate Gulley said.
Sen. Kyle McKenzie made a motion to give the group $3,700 and said, “I respectfully ask everyone just to vote it down.”
It might not have mattered much. As the debate continued, ASUO President Emily McLain threatened to veto the $3,700 from surplus if senators approved it. In the end, the Ad Club was sent away emptyhanded.
Two other surplus requests were granted. The Survival Center received $2,500 to send five students to a co-op conference in Ann Arbor, Mich. and $1,500 went to cover unexpected expenses for a Dia De Los Muertos event.
At the end of the meeting, Sen. Gulley shared his frustrations with an article in the Emerald Wednesday about former Constitution Court Justice Jerome Roberts not returning stipends he should not have received.
Sen. Gulley called the article “a piece of shit,” and later added, “The ODE is never gonna cover Nate Gulley saying that the ODE doesn’t write the right story.”
Regarding the debate over the stipend, Gulley accused Senate President Athan Papailiou of trying to settle a personal grudge, and said Roberts had served the University well.
Senators allowed for some debate until McKenzie motioned to adjourn the meeting before all of the agenda had been completed.
“He did something wrong. There’s no way around that, even if he’s your friend, Nate,” McKenzie said. “I don’t understand what needs to be said tonight or what you want to come out of it. You guys don’t need to talk about this.”
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Mac Court resolution trips over language, falls short of votes
Daily Emerald
October 17, 2007
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