p. This week’s Student Assembly meeting had Vice President Valerie Hopkins ’09 acting as secretary due to the illness of Senate Secretary Senator Sarah Rojas ’10.
p. The first bill discussed was the Serving Williamsburg Act, sponsored by Sen. Walter McClean ’09. The bill would designate $10,000 for student service groups that would be allocated at the discretion of the Finance Committee. This act was highly contentious and was opposed by many senators due to its vague details. Sen. Matt Pinsker ’09 stated that the only way this act could live up to its full potential would be to allocate money to ensure public exposure by advertising to students. The bill was tabled and sent back to committee for revision.
p. The Big Ideas Act, also sponsored by McClean, calls for the SA to allocate $100 to buy Wawa gift cards to use in a pilot program similar to a successful program at the University of Chicago. Students who have ideas for initiatives, programs or events which are then implemented by the SA will receive a $5 gift card. The bill was passed unanimously.
p. The final series of bills concerned adding referendum questions to yesterday’s SA elections.
p. The Save-A-Professor Referendum Act, sponsored by McClean and Sen. Michael Douglass ’11, calls for the approval of a referendum asking if the students would like to raise the annual Save-A-Professor fee. The fee would increase from $5 to $7 per student in order to support an additional professor in case budget cuts result in freezing wage increases. The Save-A-Professor program chooses one professor to receive a $30,000 bonus over three years as an incentive to remain at the College for each year that no salary increases occur. The bill was passed unanimously.
p. The HBO Referendum Act, sponsored by Sens. Ben Brown ’11 and Brittany Fallon ’11, proposes a referendum regarding adding $27.50 to room and board fees to receive HBO and HBO II. The bill’s sponsors stated that by eliminating the College Movie Channel, its funding that could be redistributed, which would reduce the fee. The bill was passed unanimously.
p. Senator Joe Luppino-Esposito ’08 sponsored the Graduate Students Voting Rights Referendum Act. The referendum asks students of the College’s five graduate schools of their preference of senate elections — directly or by appointment by the executive board. Law school student David Bules J.D. ’08, a member of the Law School Honor Council, agreed with the referendum but said there were wording issues that needed to be resolved. The wording issues were amended and the act was unanimously passed.
