The Student Senate passed two important pieces of legislation yesterday in its meeting.

The first, a bill to fund $5,500 for Katie Koestner, a nationally renowned speaker and a victim of rape to speak at SMU as part of sexual assault awareness week was passed after some deliberation.

The event, centered on Koestner’s own story of sexual assault is sponsored by Men with Integrity, a new student organization.

Men with Integrity also received its probationary charter during yesterday’s meeting. The group’s mission is to stop sexual assault by males. Each member must promise to never sexually assault a female.

Drew Washington, a first-year senator and member of Men with Integrity, is excited about the group’s charter and the funding to bring Koestner to SMU.

“The way [the event] came together so fast … has been amazing,” he said. “The potential of the organization and the impact it can have on the impact of the male population is great.”

Koestner will speak Tuesday, April 18.

The second piece of legislation, a resolution encouraging the university to make university venues and catering services more affordable to student organizations, was also passed.

Senator Asad Rahman, one of the author’s of this piece of resolution, is set to meet with SMU Auxiliary Services next week to formerly present the issue. Currently, student organizations must pay high fees to utilize the university’s facilities for event.

Aside from legislation, Shawn Heilbron, associated athletic director for sales and marketing, and Cherri Shaw, associate athletic marketing director, presented the recommendations of the Boulevard Committee.

The committee, a mix of students and university administrators, was formed to keep the tradition of SMU tailgating in place.

First, Heilbron said that getting rid of wristbands was not a possibility. Wristbands will only be required in student tents serving alcohol. Other tents, such as the Law school tent, will not require patrons to wear wristbands.

“We’ve got to curb underage drinking,” he said.

Under the new procedures, two bartenders would be places at student tents and still reserve the right to ask for identification, even if a student has a wristband.

Next, skirted tables with fencing would be set up to hide beer from being in plain sight of those not wishing to engage in drinking, but still would like to enjoy the Boulevard.

Five minutes prior to kickoff, bartenders must stop serving and all alcohol remaining must be locked into a vehicle within 30 minutes of kickoff. This rule applies to all tents, not just student tents.

To encourage tailgaters to head to the game, designated shuttle areas would be set up to carry tailgaters to Gerald J. Ford Stadium for the games.

Despite the new procedures put in place, the Boulevard tradition is still on shaky ground.

“It’ll take one person and one incident to take this thing away,” Heilbron said.

Shaw pointed out “the majority of this proposal came from students on the committee.”

“Please don’t think the administration is trying to spot it — we’re trying to save it,” she said.

Another speaker at yesterday’s meeting was Director of Residence Life and Student Housing Doug Hallenbeck, who agreed to meet with the Senate to address some of the senators concerns about on-campus living.

Senators wanted to know why the numbers of students living on campus has been declining.

“Generally speaking, our numbers are lower this year than at the same time last year,” Hallenbeck said.

Overall though, he said the percentage was roughly the same.

Senators pointed to the increasing cost of living in SMU housing (a rise of 4.7% this year alone) and the dwindling of meal plans as possible reasons for the decrease in numbers.

Hallenbeck countered that the Department of Residence Life and Student Housing only charges what it costs to operate. As for the meal plan situation, Hallenbeck said that his department does not confer with Dining Services on the pricing, despite the fact that students must buy the two services in conjunction.

In committee reports, Environment Chair Joseph Grinnell encouraged students to get the word out on the cell phone recycling program that started yesterday.

Student Issues Chair Andrea Gulley urged senators to turn in their “Pound the Pavement” surveys that were due yesterday. As of the meeting, she reported that only 17 senators had started, seven senators had completed all 20 and 24 had “not done anything.”

In Organizations, the Union of Music Students received their probationary charter.

In Finance, a request for a ZIP drive, valued at $49.99, by the Environment Committee was denied due to the belief that it would set a dangerous precedent.

The Appropriations Committee approved a transfer of $12,000 from their fund to the Special Projects Committee.

Next week, Senate will consider a bill to fund $2,000 to the Perkins Student Association for the Perkins Student Journal.