The Student Assembly unanimously passed the CIA Bill, which recommends that the ID office place a series of additional numbers on the back of next year’s student IDs. The bill’s sponsors made a list of pertinent phone numbers that was ordered in importance starting with Steer Clear and Sexual Assault Peer Advocates. The ID office will most likely only be able to include two additional numbers on the card; the bill included a list of nine.
Although this piece of legislation is non-binding, it seems likely that the ID office will make the proposed changes. While not a particularly exciting issue, this bill costs the student body nothing and can only have positive effects.
The Democratic Gubernatorial Debate Act was presented as new business and then motioned to be heard as old business, but was ultimately sent to the finance committee for a closer examination.
The debate on this bill was excruciating and I will save you the gory details. The bill originally allocated a maximum of $1,200 from the consolidated reserve (changed to the off-campus account in debate) to fund three camera operators so that the upcoming Democratic gubernatorial debate on campus can be televised on WMTV. There was discussion over the legality of using student funds to support a partisan event and discussion as to why this issue has only been brought up recently.
Regardless of these, this bill should be rejected in any form. I wouldn’t watch this debate if it were going on in my living room and I most certainly would not watch it on WMTV. I assume that SA President Valerie Hopkins ’09 knows three camera operators who are looking to make double time on a Sunday.
