Senators see action in final meeting of year
May 9, 2008
Student Affairs Chairwoman Erin Moran speaks during the Missouri Students Association Senate meeting Wednesday in Stotler Lounge. Moran was confirmed as an executive member of the Board of Elections Commissioners.
The Missouri Students Association Senate certainly did not slack off at its final meeting of the year.
The meeting lasted longer than any other this year and was the only one to include extensive debate on a number of bills.
During the meeting, which lasted more than two hours, the Senate passed nine bills and tabled two others. One would have recommended installing parking meters to the top level of the Virginia Avenue Garage and the other would have suggested MSA departments and auxiliaries release monthly budget updates as a means of improving accountability.
The biggest debate of the night, however, stemmed from controversies about the creation of a voter’s bill of rights and candidate’s bill of rights. Bill sponsor and Operations Committee Senator Amanda Shelton said the proposals were a means of remedying election problems that arose earlier this spring during the Senate elections. That bill passed 12-6 after a roll-call vote was requested.
The resolution to add parking meters to the top level of the parking garage was set aside because senators had several questions that bill sponsor and Campus and Community Relations Chairman Brendan Webber couldn’t answer.
Senators questioned what would happen to the number of parking permits offered at the garage if an entire floor were taken away for metered space.
Webber said he would meet with Parking and Transportation Director Jim Joy to discuss it further. In an initial meeting, Joy seemed to support the idea, Webber said.
There also was much debate about a bill that would recommend monthly budget reports from MSA departments and auxiliaries. Operations Committee Chairman Corey Gibson, who signed onto the bill but admitted he hadn’t read it carefully before doing so, opposed the bill because he didn’t think the issue had been researched enough to know whether the reports would be helpful or an added burden on departments.
Senate Speaker Jonathan Mays authored the bill and said he hoped for further discussion about the timelines to determine whether senators felt a month was a good time standard. Mays offered to amend the bill to include a clause that the idea should be further investigated. The bill was tabled after Gibson pointed out that proposed amendments would alter the purpose of the bill.
“The investigation solution and the bill are two completely different things,” Gibson said. “We shouldn’t write bills on the Senate floor. Bills should be written by 12 (p.m.) Tuesday to review in committee. You’re changing the purpose of the bill and it should be a new bill entirely.”
Because it was the year’s final meeting, the bills would need to be re-submitted at the beginning of the fall semester to be considered again.
Bills that passed included a bill supporting the adoption of a diversity intensive course requirement, similar to the current writing intensive course requirement. The Multicultural Issues Committee has worked with the Legion of Black Collegians and Four Front most of the year to implement the diversity course, MCI Chairwoman Jennifer Claxton said.
Claxton said discussions with Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies Jim Spain indicate the diversity intensive course could be implemented as early as fall semester 2009 for incoming freshman.
A bill to create an endowment fund for STRIPES with money the auxiliary has in its gift account also passed. Mays said creating an endowment would aid STRIPES in its long-term goal to become self-sustainable.
According to a bill passed Wednesday, MSA will work with various student groups to create a Mizzou Human Rights Coalition.
The coalition will sponsor events throughout the next school year.
Other bills included a bill commending Senate Clerk Allison Horne for dedication to MSA, a bill supporting a state Senate bill granting voting rights to the student representative to the UM system Board of Curators and a resolution supporting more authority for the student senate of Lincoln University in Jefferson City.
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