Student Senate hears introductions to five bills

The bills will be voted on next week

More stories from Rachyl Houterman

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Photo by Kar Wei Cheng

Five bills were introduced at Monday’s meeting and will be voted on by Student Senate next week.

Student Senate on Monday heard the introductions to five bills that will be voted on next week before winter break begins.

The bills introduced include adopting the 2018-2019 Organized Activities Budget, creating an Athletic and Recreation Master Plan, amending the Student Organization Constitution Requirements and Guidelines, updating the McPhee Strength and Performance Center Recycling bins and installing two new bike shelters.

 

2018-19 Organized Activities Budget

The organized activities budget outlines the allocations of $1.3 million in segregated fees to organized activities on campus. Segregated fees are paid by each student in his or her tuition.

The allocable portion of student segregated fees will increase by $2 next academic year “due to the high amount of allocations,” according to the bill.

 

Creating an Athletic and Recreation Master Plan

The Athletics and Recreation Department will be hiring a consulting firm to “gather data and build a master plan for future projects and expansions to have adequate information to seek future funding…,” according to the bill.

If passed, Student Senate will fund either $50,000 or 33.33 percent of the consulting fee, depending on which is less.

“This is to assess the needs for Recreation and Athletics in the future because in the future when there’s going to be the Sonnentag project that eventually happens, that will be through a student referendum or partially through a student referendum,” said Branden Yates, the student body president and acting-finance director. “So what this will do is help us get a better idea of how much that student referendum will be.”

The Sonnentag Event and Recreation Complex will be a new event center located on Menomonie Street.

 

Amending the Student Organization Constitution Requirements and Guidelines

Campus Affairs Director Alexandra Kurutz introduced proposed changes to the Student Organization Constitution Requirements/Guidelines.

 

Proposed changes to the constitution requirements/guidelines include:

  • An organization’s constitution must include a statement that says 90 percent of its membership will be students enrolled at UW-Eau Claire.
  • Making it optional for an organization to include recall procedures for executive board members.
  • An organization must include a statement in its constitution which says a current student member must submit renewal, funding, reactivation, name change and new organization requests.
  • An organization’s constitution must include a statement which says the organization will complete online Kaleidoscope training.

 

Updating McPhee’s Recycling Containers

Student Office of Sustainability Director Austin Northagen introduced a bill to allocate $11,728 from the Green Fund to place eight recycling bins in McPhee Center.

According to the bill, the recycling containers in McPhee Center do not match the ones around the rest of campus. Placing new recycling containers would “allow for a consistent, clear, and visible message to students on how to recycle,” according to the bill.

 

Installing New Bike Shelters

Student Office of Sustainability Director Austin Northagen introduced a bill to install three bike shelters on campus.

Two of the bike shelters would be installed on upper campus, outside of Karlgaard Towers and Oak Ridge halls. Each bike shelter would be equipped with solar panels that power LED lighting.

One bike shelter would be installed on lower campus, between Schofield Hall and the Old Library. According to the bill, each bike shelter can house 40 bikes.

Funding would come from the Green Fund and amount to $119,000.

 

Other news:

  • Dior Pulatov, the finance director, resigned.

 

Houterman can be reached at [email protected].