Senate honored various members of the SMU community for their dedication to the university at Tuesday’s meeting.
Psychology professor Christine Gancarz, Director of Athletic Marketing Shawn Heilbron, Engineering Senator Sean Camarillo and the Global Connections received monthly honors.
“Anything coming from the students is a great honor,” said Gancarz, who was given the faculty award for March.
Camarillo received the senator of the month award while Heilbron received the staff award for his work in helping market athletics to the general public and on campus.
“One of things I try to do is make an impact with the students. This is a nice validation,” Heilbron said.
Global Connections received the organization of the month title for its work in organizing International Nite in late March.
Senators were also briefed on speakers who will attend the next Senate meeting on April 9 to address the parking fee increase from $150 this year to $200 for the 2002-03 school year.
Student Body President Jodi Warmbrod said that Vice President of Business and Finance Bill Detwiler and Police Chief Aaron Graves will come to answer questions about the measure that will also increase faculty and staff rates from $15 a month to $20 a month.
“[The parking fee increase] was supposed to be a phasing-in process, but that was not communicated well to students, faculty and staff,” business senator and chief of staff Heidi Kuglin said.
The Senate also voted on two old bills.
A bill to fund $2,200 for Latino Explosion, a program sponsored by the College Hispanic American Students, was passed for full funding.
In doing so, the Senate went against the financial committee’s recommendation to fund $1,650. The committee made the decision because the organization is charging SMU students $3 for admission.
Dedman II Senator Asad Rahman pointed out that the event is CHAS’s biggest of the year. After short debate, the Senate passed the resolution as is.
The second piece of legislation the Senate debated took more than 40 minutes to resolve.
Senators debated the merits and timing of a bill that would have funded $267.75 to purchase an advertisement in The Daily Campus publicizing the new student representatives to the Board of Trustees.
The finance committee recommended to not fund the resolution because it makes more sense to print the ad in the fall, rather than in the spring, so a larger majority of students will know.
“I recognize the merits of this bill, but I urge you to vote this down,” Meadows Senator Sarah Grimmer said. “I hope we reconsider this fall, and I urge you to vote for it then.”
Proponents of the bill argued that if the Senate waited until the fall, the ad would not run until after the first Board of Trustees meeting in September.
Opponents wanted the authors to propose it during summer executive session for funding.
Some senators who serve on the finance committee were frustrated with the Senate’s habit of not following that committee’s recommendation.
“The finance committee sees this for a long time and in five seconds, we overturn their decision,” Business Senator Jay Pendleton said. “I don’t think that’s right.”
The senators eventually voted down the measure. No new business was proposed during the meeting.
