Samantha Chaffin
News Editor
The ASISU Student Senate has begun holding regular meetings and has formed committees for the year.
So far, according to Senator Kyle Son of the College of Business and Senator Maxwell Daniels of the College of Science and Engineering, the senate has spent the last couple of weeks establishing themselves, learning positions and taking care of administrative and organizational business.
“Things are gonna pick up soon and they’re gonna pick up fast so I would strongly encourage students to stay up to date with what’s going on because I think as we all know the year moves incredibly fast the busier we get,” said Son. “It’s important [students] stay involved and up to date with what’s going on in their student government because those decisions that we’re faced with [as senators] are gonna affect everyone, ultimately.”
Senate meetings are held every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Salmon River Suite on the third floor of the Pond Student Union Building. Meetings are open to student viewing and there is a specific gallery question and answer section of meetings for students to speak with their senators.
Daniels said he encourages student attendance and participation in meetings.
“We work for [the students],” said Daniels. “They’re the people who elected us and pay for us to be in office so we should be doing what they want.”
So far this year, two pieces of legislation have gone through, both of which clarified or adjusted already enacted legislation.
“One of those was an adjustment to the constitution that’s allowing for problems from this year to not happen next year [in regard to the payroll],” said Daniels.
He explained that this year senators had difficulties being paid for work done in August due to wording in the bylaws.
The corresponding bill is Bill 434 and states, “This Bill clarifies Senate Rule Book Article II Section 8 for the purpose of payroll accuracy.”
The bill strikes the words “excluding May through August.”
The second piece of legislation that went through this year was Bill 436 which states, “This bill rewords Article 4 Section 4 Clause 2 Subscript A. It will correctly clarify how organizations may receive C.E.S.A.R. funding.”
The bill strikes a reference to a requirement referring to “Article 11 of the ASISU Constitution,” which according to Daniels hasn’t existed since approximately the 1970s.
Son stressed that involvement and “building the brand” of the Bengal and ISU will be a major focus of ASISU Student Senate this year.
“There’s never a dull day on campus,” said Son about involvement. “There’s always something going on every day, multiple times a day, and a lot of people don’t know about them. Some people don’t have time for them but a lot of people can make time or find time, so our number one job is gonna be keeping people informed and leading by example, I think,” said Son. “It’s hard to tell people you should get involved in this when [senators] aren’t there.”
Son noted that he feels more student involvement could benefit the university in a bigger way by potentially retaining students and preventing unnecessary decreases in enrollment, which affect funding for ASISU and the university as a whole.
In addition, a few projects are in early planning stages. The senate hopes to arrange for recycling bins, garbage cans and other campus fixtures to be painted with orange and black and embedded with ISU logos in the near future.
There is also talk of creating a more complete calendar of events and a smart phone App for BengalWeb that the senate hopes to get student reactions to prior to seeking bids or going further into planning, according to Daniels.
In addition, Son hopes to develop a plan to see Bengal ID cards used to keep track of use of facilities that students are paying for via fees to make sure student fees are being appropriated according to student need and demand.
“It probably won’t be something that will happen this year but I’d like to see it developed this year,” said Son.
A survey will be sent out this Sunday and everyone who completes the survey will be entered in a raffle for an iPod.
“I know that no one really likes to do surveys but those are the easiest way for us to gauge the public opinion,” said Daniels.
Daniels also encouraged students to “like” ASISU’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/asisubengals for potential opportunities at contests and giveaways as well as to stay informed.
Students can view ASISU Student Senate happenings including bills, agendas and minutes at http://isu.edu/asisu/govinfo.shtml.
