The College of William and Mary’s Student Assembly met Tuesday and approved the purchase of four new couches for the Sadler Center.
Sen. Grace Colby ’13 sponsored the bill as an effort to improve seating accommodations in the building.
The bill passed through the SA finance committee with a neutral recommendation, since some of the details — including fabric color — were not finalized. The bill allocates $4,400 dollars for the purchase.
Due to state purchasing regulations, the purchased couches will be built by prison inmates.
“According to the requisition requirements of state institutions, they have to try to buy overpriced, prison-made furniture first,” Sen. Shep Walker ’11 said. “[If not,] they have to fill out a requisition form saying exactly why the prisons cannot make the furniture.”
There was debate on the bill, since estimates of shipping costs were not included in the $4,400 total. If shipping costs exceed that set amount, the SA will allocate more funds to cover the extra expenses.
The bill passed on a 12 to 6 vote.
The SA also unanimously confirmed the appointments of Colleen Campbell ’11, Danny Michel ’11 and T.J. O’Sullivan ’13 to the Appeals Committee and the SA also discussed the William and Mary Police Department’s decision to implement a new suicide prevention measure.
“The police department is instituting a program for high-risk students — coordinating the police department, ResLife and psychiatrists — to allow police to enter the student’s room under tense situations to check the situations of students who may be a danger to themselves and others,” Zann Isacson ’11 said.
Sen. Ryan Ruzic J.D. ’11 introduced the Constitution Clarification Act, which would set the requirement for Senate confirmation to SA positions to a two-thirds majority.
Sen. Zach Marcus ’12 also introduced the Impeachment Act, which would allow for an extension of the Senate’s impeachment power to include the right to bring elected officials, confirmed and appointed members of the executive board and members of the review board to an impeachment trial.
Ruzic also presented the bi-quarterly report from the Outreach Department, as required in the SA code, which listed all bills passed by the Senate in the past year.
The SA meets Tuesday nights in Alan B. Miller Hall 1027. Meetings are open to the public.