The Student Assembly Senate unanimously approved the Publications Council contract in its meeting Tuesday.
The contract allocates $170,000 to the Publications Council each year for the next three years. Funds are dispersed among the 29 publications of the Council and includes funds to allow for new publications that request seed funding or membership. To enforce a clause that’s been forgotten in the past, the SA will freeze the Council’s Student Publications Reserve account if either the council chair or a voting member does not present the state of the account to the Senate once a month.
“The SPR fund presentation has been a part of the contract for years but it has not been enforced,” Madame Chair Kendall Lorenzen ’15 said. “The SPR will be temporarily closed but once [the chair or voting member] comes back and give[s] a presentation … the funding will be unfrozen.”
Sen. Drew Wilke ’15 and Sen. Ishan Bardhan ’13 attributed the lack of debate during Tuesday’s senate meeting to the thorough discussions during Executive and Finance Committee meetings. During these discussions, senators spoke to Council Chair Justin Miller ’13, who agreed to the enforcement of the presentation clause. The contract will also account for a 1 percent inflation increase.
Sen. Alice Shaughnessy ’13 introduced the Coffee Talks Act. If approved, the act will promote discussion between administrators and students of the College of William and Mary through casual chats over coffee.
“We could have groups of five students sign up [through student happenings],” Shaughnessy said.