The ASUO Senate passed a resolution aimed at opposing the use of bottled water on campus on Wednesday night, over objections that doing so might violate its own rules.
The resolution called upon the student government to stop using its funds to buy bottled water. It was created by members of the Climate Justice League, a new student group. The group called bottled water an environmental threat and said its being removed would decrease the ASUO’s spending because using tap water is cheaper than using bottled water.
Eleven senators voted for the resolution, enough to pass it, but six abstained after some senators expressed fears that mistakes made in the Senate’s procedure for passing resolutions might invalidate it.
A Senate rule requires that, 48 hours before they pass, all resolutions be reviewed by the Senate’s Rules Committee for grammatical correctness and compliance with the ASUO’s rules. However, the committee missed its scheduled Friday meeting, only reviewing the resolution on Monday, too close to the Wednesday night Senate meeting to comply with Senate rules.
Sen. Tyler Griffin, the Rules Committee’s chairperson, said he would take the blame for the committee’s failure to meet.
“I apologize, everybody,” he said. “Really, sincerely, like, to everybody here. I had a crazy weekend in terms of I thought I was going to Canada and didn’t go to Canada because of this, so now I feel even worse.”
Senate President Nick Gower said passing the resolution might leave it open to being invalidated and therefore encouraged the Senate not to pass the resolution.
Sen. Sandy Weintraub reacted angrily to that, responding to suggestions that passing the resolution might leave the Senate open to a grievance that would remove members from office.
“The only reason anyone wants to talk about a grievance is because somebody brought up the word. It’s the stupidest thing ever.”
Weintraub’s words apparently convinced enough senators for the resolution to pass. 
[email protected]