Student Senate passed two resolutions and introduced two bills during its Monday meeting.

The first of the resolutions on the table was Resolution 55-R-15, in support of the Copyright Compliance Agreement, introduced by Senator Ben Krall. It was passed with a voice vote.

The university’s Copyright Compliance Agreement is drafted each semester by the Information Technology Commission, of which Krall is director.
It serves as a statement of the university’s policy on illegal file sharing and lists the punishments the university will issue if the policy is violated.

Access to the Internet will be removed for 14 days upon first violation and 28 days upon second violation.

With a third violation, the computer will be banned from the Internet for the remainder of the semester and the student will be required to meet with the Dean
of Students.

Krall said one of the reasons the agreement should be supported by Senate this semester is because year to date, the number of illegal downloads on campus has gone down 9 percent.

The second resolution passed was Resolution 55-R-16, in support of Assembly Bill 142. Senator Corydon Fish introduced the resolution, which was also passed with a voice vote.

If passed in the State Senate, the Assembly bill would allow for more flexibility in the undergraduate careers of students who receive talent incentive program grants. The amount of the grant would remain the same, not to exceed $1,800 per student during a given academic year and would still be given to “uniquely needy students.”

According to Assembly Bill 142, the change it seeks is to “provide that recipients of talent incentive grants need not maintain continuous enrollment in their higher education institutions. Under the bill, recipients are eligible to receive those grants for up to ten semesters during a six- year period.”

“Recently, the state legislature has been trying to modernize financial aid because it hasn’t been touched in about a decade, for most programs,” Fish said.

What is outdated about current legislature is that it doesn’t allow students to take time off of school, which could harm students when it comes to building up work experience, Fish said.

Fish said that some opponents of the bill are worried that because this money is given to the neediest in society if they are allowed the choice to leave school for a year, they may not come back.

Senate also introduced two bills to be discussed at next week’s meeting: Bill 55-B-25, to adopt the 2012-2013 Organized Activities Budget, and Bill 55-B-26, for a special allocation to UW-Eau Claire Women’s Volleyball Club so they can attend their national tournament.