By Pat Holohan, Staff Writer
Ten senators were voted into the Student Government Association during the Senate's weekly meeting in the Student Center Greenhouse. According to Vice President Akeem Mellis, the 10 new senators are the most inducted in a single week in the SGA's history, breaking last year's record of nine.
The new senators expressed their enthusiasm for SGA before the vote. "I think I can bring not only a diverse perspective, but experience from other clubs," said new senator Hoo Shahidi.
To become a senator, students must attend two senate meetings, three committee meetings, one of which must be a meeting of the Rules Committee, and gather the signatures ninety students, one percent of the student population.
A week after being elected to SGA, Senator Anil Beria proposed his first legislation, an ad-hoc committee for presidential programming. According to the legislation, the committee would aid the public relations committee, deal with flyer requests, and help with general clerical duties such as cleaning the SGA office. The committee would meet with SGA President Sean Hutchinson weekly. Hutchinson voiced support for the program, saying that he needed help with programming.
Some senators criticized the legislation, and controversy stirred over whether it should be considered a committee or a task force. Hutchinson, however, was not concerned with the group's title, saying, "I really don't care what it is, I just need help."
Senator Jared Berry said that everything that the committee would be responsible for was already the role of another group. Hutchinson replied that when clubs do not get the money they request from the Appropriations Committee, they come to see him. He added that he does not have enough time to deal with each of these groups, and needs the proposed committee's help because of it.
Several senators took issue with the "General Clerical Duties" section of the legislation. Those who spoke said that senators should pick up after themselves in the office, and that there should not have to be a new committee to deal with cleanliness.
Senator Berry moved to refer the legislation to the Public Relations Committee, which would review it for potential conflicts of interest with public relations before sending it on to the rules committee. The motion passed by two votes.
For the second time in three weeks, behavior was an issue, as Vice President Mellis insisted on "decorum" throughout the meeting. "This is occurring way too often this evening," said Mellis.
At the end of the meeting, however, it was Berry who took issue with Mellis on what he felt was overuse of "decorum." "There's no need to yell and scream about it like a little baby." Berry also added that if people were going to "talk down to" him, they could "expect s***." No other senator publicly supported Berry's point.
Senator Shahidi, in his first meeting as a senator, said that Berry was expressing personal opinion in what where supposed to be objective statements. Senator Berry also expressed frustration with the amount of arguing that had plagued the senate in recent weeks. Hutchinson said that the arguing throughout the meeting had to stop.