During the Summer Senate Committee’s third meeting of the season, the senators reallocated funds for six different student groups’ budgets, and approved spending for a desk and filing cabinet for another.
They also decided to further discuss the prospects of adding an artistic bike rack to campus grounds and of developing an ASUO internship program at a later date. All senators showed enthusiasm for the programs and for the term.
The Senate Intern Program aims to bring new students, mainly first-year students, into the ASUO and allow them to work with senators to better understand student government.
ASUO Vice President Juliana Guzman said she had reservations about the program if it meant simply giving interns work that senators did not want to do themselves, but was confident that the program would not face this problem.
Senator Erica Anderson said her freshman year internship had helped her get her foot in the door.
“It could be either really great, or really, really crappy,” said Senator Jacqueline Justice.
The Senate voted to create a subcommittee to discuss the project further.
A new bike rack with a green and yellow dcorative metal “O” in the middle could appear on campus soon, depending on whether the Senate approves the design. Anderson and Senator Jacob Daniels expressed reservations because bikers cannot lock their bikes to the large “O,” and the Senate decided to create a subcommittee to discuss the project further.
In addition to creating subcommittees, the Senate approved requests from six student groups wishing to reallocate student funds and approved a request from Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Educational Support Services for $704 to pay for a new desk and filing cabinet.
LGBTESSP originally requested new money for two sofas, a chair, a computer and a printer additionally, but the Senate only approved the office furniture because of budget constraints. The Senate has only $3,200 in emergency funds to allocate for the remainder of the summer, Senator Athan Papailiou said.
In the one dissenting vote of the afternoon, Senator Oscar Guerra did not vote in favor of moving $15.35 from The Insurgent’s long-distance funds to cover printing costs.
“If the PFC (the student group in charge of allocating student incidental fees) offers them money they should spend it,” he said.
Senate President Sara Hamilton said the Senate will spend time this summer preparing for fall term, and exploring the prospect of developing the internship program and debating what to do about the bike rack.
The senators all showed enthusiasm for their projects this summer. “It looks like we’re gonna be working on quite a few pretty interesting projects,” Justice said.
“We’re gonna have a great summer,” Hamilton said. “We can really get prepared for fall.”
She said this summer the Senate plans to focus on the bike rack, the internship program and involving more students in the process.
“Everyone’s in a good mood, no school, nice weather,” Hamilton said.
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