A new hand secured leadership in the ASUO Student Senate Wednesday night as members selected Sen. Peter Watts to be the body’s next president.
Watts’ opponent in the presidential race was Sen. Lindsey McLean, the summer Senate president.
Touching on issues ranging from the budget process to ASUO appointments, Watts explained his concerns for the year and offered what he saw as possible solutions.
One of the larger issues Watts addressed was what would happen with a more than $500,000 surplus expected at the end of the year.
The surplus will come from a 2.5 percent increase in the number of students from the number projected last year. Watts said the Senate should start thinking about the surplus early so that when the end of the year comes, it knows where it wants to put the money.
ASUO President Jay Breslow pounced on the issue by asking both candidates to state their ideas for using the extra funds.
Safety arose as a shared concern between the candidates. Watts said campus lighting was a huge issue, especially around the graveyard.
“I think that any area of campus that’s dangerous to students should be our top priority,” he said.
McLean agreed, adding that she would like to see programs such as Saferide expanded so that they could accommodate everyone who needs their assistance.
“They want to have the capacity to help people and they don’t,” she said.
Because the surplus is the students’ money, Watts said, he wants to take the issue to the students and find out what they want to happen with the funds.
In special requests, Gabrielle Hendel of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Alliance successfully transferred $900 from the LGBTA’s stipend account into work study.
By transferring $179 from Dance Oregon’s guest artist account to its fund-raising account, Senate fixed an accounting error in the group’s budget from last year.
Senate transferred $1,440 out of the Childcare Subsidy’s holding account so that it may use the funds.
Finally, the Multicultural Center received its request to transfer $138 from its cultural account to an account for food. The money will be used for food this weekend during the MCC Open House.