Organizations Committee Chair Katherine Tullos was appointed and inaugurated as interim student body secretary during yesterday’s Student Senate meeting.
“I feel extremely confident in Katherine’s ability to serve this Senate,” Student Body President Liz Healy said. “She’s showed dedication and willingness to help and truly understands the vision of Student Senate and where it’s going this year.”
Tullos will be serving as both interim secretary and organizations committee chair until a new secretary is elected in a special election that will be held from Nov. 16-18.
Applications to run for secretary are available at www.smu.edu/studentsenate/opportunities and are due by noon on Nov. 16.
Student Body Vice President Taylor Russ reminded senators during the meeting that the position requires 20-25 hours of work a week and strong organizational skills.
The East Asian Students Association’s requested $300 from the finance committee to pay for a Tahitian dance group for their Asian dance festival.
Rules were suspended so that Senate could vote on the request, as the event will occur before the next meeting, and the request was approved.
Senate also approved the organizations committee’s recommendations to move the sports marketing associates committee to probationary status and Hilltopics to temporary status.
Three bills proposed during last week’s Senate meeting were debated and voted on.
Heeding the finance committee’s recommendation to fund in full a bill to fund the Board of Advocates $490 for two new 17-inch liquid crystal display computer monitors, Senate approved the legislation after a quick debate.
A bill to fund law students to buy a table at an emerging trends in real estate event was more contested.
The finance committee recommended to not fund this event at all because of concerns that the event was nothing more than a networking opportunity for a few students.
Some senators shared the committee’s concerns.
“In the past, we have not voted for these types of events, solely on the basis that these students’ money does not go to help other people get jobs,” Engineering Sen. Reid Varner said.
Cox Sen. Lincoln Torrey disagreed with Varner, claiming the benefits of the event were not limited to networking.
“This isn’t a schmooze fest,” Torrey said. “SMU is underrepresented in real estate.”
Healy reminded senators to consider that the money in the student fund comes not only from undergraduate students but from graduate students, as well.
She also countered the argument that the legislation should not be passed because the event only benefits a few students.
“There’s no perfect piece of legislation,” Healy said. “We’re never going to get a piece of legislation that’s going to effect every student on this campus in a personal way.”
Healy proposed a friendly amendment that each student attending the conference pay $15, thereby reducing the price Senate paid to $600.
Law Sen. Kimberly Sellers, co-author of the bill, accepted this amendment, and Senate approved the revised bill.
A bill to fund the Student Bar Association’s Barrister’s Ball Committee $3,700 for a band to play at the annual Barrister’s Ball was also transformed during debate before it was voted on.
The finance committee recommended that Senate fund $500 for this event.
Sellers, who also co-authored this bill, allowed a friendly amendment suggested by first-year Sen. Matt Jensen that Senate fund $1,500, and Senate approved this amended version.
Four new bills and one new resolution proposed yesterday will be voted on during next week’s meeting.
