Press Clipping: Eastern Illinois University Student Senate to vote on resolutions

Eastern Illinois University Student Senate to vote on resolutions

By Jarad Jarmon

Student Senate members will be voting on a resolution at their meeting, which will approve the travel expenses for the Student Action Team trip to Springfield on Oct. 23 to lobby for Eastern.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Arcola-Tuscola Room in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Student Action Team members are expected to lobby for more Monetary Award Program grants, increased appropriations for higher education and funding for the new science building.

The travel expenses for the lobbying trip on Oct. 23 will cost $583, which will cover gas for the trip, breakfast and a luncheon with alumni who work in Springfield and would be able to give advice on how to lobby.

Everyone on the Student Action Team has not personally lobbied but will be getting advice from those who know how to approach the situation.

The senate members will also be voting on the resolution proposed last week, which will approve the travel expenses in order for Executive Vice President Mitch Gurick to take four senate members to the Illinois Board of Higher Education- Student Advisory Council meeting on Nov. 2 in Springfield.

The expenses will cover the gas there and back, which will total to $155.

They will also be voting on a resolution approving the expenses of $90 for food and general supplies such as deodorant and combs for the senate and Big Brother Big Sister organization project on Tuesday in EIU Lanes bowling alley in the Union.

The senate and Big Brother Big Sister members plan to teach underprivileged children in the Charleston area basic grooming tips to help them for the future.

Student Senate Speaker Jesse Green said all three resolutions will probably be passed.

The Student Senate’s business affairs committee members also plan to present the option for student government to join the American Student Government Association.

Green said the topic has been brought up periodically for the last couple of years.

“There are pros and cons to it, so we will see,” Green said. “It is a major organization; we just want to make sure it makes sense.”

To be a part of the organization, student government would have to pay $797 in dues.

Student government members would be able to go to conferences and get feedback on good ways to run their organization if they joined the association.

Hannah Edwards, the business affairs committee chairwoman, said it is brought up every year in order to see if it is worth it.

“We are just going to keep bringing it up and bringing it up just in case, so we can reevaluate and to make sure it is not something that we want to do,” Edwards said.

Green said they might also be presenting a resolution allowing for changes to be made to their constitution in order for the constitution to agree with their bylaws.