Emergency senate meeting

The emergency senate meeting on Nov. 17 validated the elections as well as conducted legislative cabinet elections.

Senate president, senate president pro-tempore and senate liaisons were scheduled to be nominated. Numerous senators nominated each other for liaison positions. Some respectfully declined. No one nominated a senate president or a senate president pro-tempore.

Nominations will continue at the Nov. 24 meeting.

Budget and Allocations

The Budget and Allocations Committee (BAC) heard four funding requests – three from students and one from within Student Government (SG) on Nov. 17.

Osprey Racing requested $2,000 to partially fund sending 16 students to the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers’ event in Michigan. The total cost of the trip is $7,520. Seven of those students have previously attended this event.

Club President Samantha Delgado reiterated what was written in the club’s travel request form, which said each student who went to the conference in the past has had many tips and ideas to bring back to the club.

The request was approved 7-0-0.

The Awakening, a campus ministry partnered with a local church, Awaken Church, requested $2,000 to attend the Faithwalkers conference in North Carolina. The total cost listed was $2,072. Nine of the group’s 10 members have attended this event before.

The Awakening’s proposal states the conference would benefit UNF as a whole because those who attend would come back to campus and serve the student body “by applying basic principles taken from the conference.”

Treasurer Morgan Wolf pointed out there was a discrepancy in the way the club had calculated their fuel expenses because the total was calculated based on one vehicle, instead of the two vehicles they were using.

Amanda Lovins, SG accounting associate, said it would be less expensive to use vehicles they could get through the university.

Senator Connor Akers said it would be fiscally irresponsible to fund this request as presented because of the questionable math and failure of the club to find the cheapest options available, which is required.

The request failed 2-0-5.

Better Together at UNF, an interfaith club encouraging students to share their values, requested $250.02 to attend a Leadership Institute conference.

Of the seven students attending, only two of them need their registration paid for because the others’ registration is being paid for by the conference from accolades they received. Five of the seven students planning on going had attended the conference before.

According to their request, sending students to the Leadership Conference would benefit UNF by strengthening ties with the Interfaith Youth Core, a national nonprofit organization that advises President Barack Obama.

The request passed 7-0-0.

Senate President Kaitlin Ramirez brought a request that gave 10 extra hours per week for the senate secretary. Ramirez said the secretary has consistently gone over her allotted hours and is now expected to act as SG’s Webmaster. Because of the extra duties, she said these extra hours are warranted.

The total amount of the special request was for $1,306.68. It passed unanimously, 7-0-0.

Constitution and Statutes

The Constitution and Statutes Committee (C&SC) unanimously approved the reformation of passage bill OB-14F-2813, which states all legislative branch records must be online within two business days of becoming effective. This is at odds with a bill that was previously unanimously passed by the Senate, in which records would have 16 days until needing to be online. That bill was vetoed by Student Body President Joseph Turner.

Shomari Gloster, senate president pro-tempore and chair of the C&SC, authored and sponsored two bills that he presented.

One bill creates a fifth standing committee, the Internal Affairs Committee (IAC). It says that the IAC “shall make all reasonable efforts to insure that there are an equal number of senators on each committee.”

The other bill takes the power to appoint senators away from the senate president and gives it to the IAC. Other duties of the IAC are to prepare the senate agenda, submit it to the senate president and plan senator orientation. It also states that the committee will be chaired by the senate president pro-tempore. According to the bill, the IAC will be composed of the senate president and all standing committee chairpersons of the Senate.

Email Lydia Moneir at news@unfspinnaker.com