Senate reviewed six pieces of legislation proposed by fellow members, Tuesday, on issues that called into question possible changes within senate and also changes around the campus at large.

The Senate will vote on each piece of legislation next Tuesday, April 20. All students who wish to voice their opinion about the legislation are encouraged to do so before then by meeting with their senators.

Dedman 1 senator Kellie Spano authored “A resolution requesting senators to author or co-author one piece of legislation each semester.” The reason for this concern is that some senators have yet to either author or co-author any legislation, and Spano said she feels it is vitally important to do so.

Spano suggested in the legislation that any student who does not meet the requirement may be asked to step down from his or her position.

On that note, Lyle senator Joseph Esau authored “A resolution amending the absence policy of the student senate,” which addresses the idea that some senators who have been asked to forfeit their positions in the Senate still participate in senate functions thereafter.

The legislation ensures that any senator who is asked to step down from his or her position may not participate in any senate function until the remainder of that school year in which he or she was asked to forfeit, plus the entire next school year.

Esau also clarified that those who choose to resign, voluntarily, do not apply to the amended clause.

Esau also authored “A resolution amending guest privileges in general senate meetings.”

This piece of legislation serves to clarify a previously stipulated rule, said Esau, which concerns the restriction of participation of those who are not members of the Senate during specific times of their weekly meetings.

“The whole point of this is to only mandate that student senators, committee chairs, student body officers, and the monitors can speak during committee reports, debates, speaker’s podium, all of that,” Esau said.

The media is particularly mentioned in the legislation as only being allowed to ask “non-debatable” questions during Speaker’s Podium, which occurs at the beginning of each meeting. Any questions that are deemed debatable must be asked after the meeting has concluded, and should a media outlet not comply with these rules, the legislation stipulates that the Parliamentarian will remove the attendee.

First-year senators David Archer, William Badarak, Alex Mace, Roza Essaw and John Bryant introduced another piece of legislation that they co-authored pertaining to the lack of food options on campus both after-hours and on the weekends. Archer said he obtained a list of 750+ student signatures from all areas of campus representing those who are in support of the proposed legislation.

RFoC is closed on the weekends, which leaves students to resort to Mac’s Place. Mac’s Place weekend hours, though, are not entirely convenient for students. It is open on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., closed on Saturdays and open on Sundays from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Sunday. The first-year senators intend to extend these hours, in RFoC and/or Mac’s Place, to provide students with more dining options on the weekends.

Student Body President Patrick Kobler wrote a fifth piece of legislation introduced to the Senate. His legislation requests the implementation of a senate seat for transfer students.
Kobler sought to introduce a transfer seat because he said that having to wait up to nine months to vote on body officers (which is how long it takes for some transfer students to gain enough hours to participate in voting) is too long. By having a transfer seat, the transfer students could speak with their corresponding senator about any issues or concerns they may have.

Student Senate Chief-of-Staff Alex Ehmke authored the last piece of legislation. Ehmke saw a need for better audio in the Ford Stadium and wants to gain Senate’s support in helping the SMU administration augment or replace the current sound system.

For more information on these pieces of legislation and their authors, visit smu.edu/studentsenate to find each senator’s contact information.