The Student Assembly senate meeting opened with a moment of silence for Troy Pelish ’15, followed by encouragement to pursue methods for suicide prevention.
Chairman Noah Kim ’13 also clarified with the senators and executive members present that as SA members, they are nonpartisan in elections, specifically with regard to the upcoming City Council elections.
The senate discussed various pieces of new business, including the proposed Feed the Children and their Parents Act, which would provide $3,000 to fund the supply of pastries and coffee for prospective students on Admitted Students Day.
“We could say ‘Brought to you by Student Assembly,’” bill sponsor Ryan McManus ’13 said. “Hopefully, as students walk around they’ll see that SA logo. … [It will] show that we are a really active college in that regard.”
Douglas Haynes Law ’12 also proposed two bills. The End of the “R-Word” Day Funding Act would allocate additional funds for an event put on by the SA Executive Department of Health and Safety to raise awareness on campus for the harmful consequences of derogatory use of the word ‘retarded.’
The Gamers Have Needs Too Act would allocate Student Assembly funds to update the games currently available in the Sadler Center gaming area.
“There are older games [in Sadler] that aren’t really as fun,” Haynes said. “[The gamers of the College] would like some money to put toward putting new games there.”
The last piece of new business was the proposed Administrative Council of the Student Assembly Creation Act, which would replace the currently unused Joint Facilitation Committee with an Administrative Council to cover the SA’s internal affairs.
The senate also discussed a number of pending bills. The proposed Condom Dispenser Act is returning to debate after interest expressed by the Public Health and Safety Committee.
Research is continuing on the proposed Economist and Wall Street Journal Act after committee debate tabled the bill.
Efforts to pass the proposed Student Health Act III and 1/2 are also continuing.
“We’re going to be pushing it harder and harder than ever,” Haynes said.
The Senate is also continuing work on the proposed HPV Vaccine Subsidization Act and the proposed Fiscal Responsibility Act.
“We will be working with the health and safety department to move forward with this,” Kim said.