Senate Beat: Double dose, Jan. 9 and 16

By: Tyler Blaker

Posted: 1/18/08

Wednesday Jan. 9, 2008

Christmas Break is over and now it's back to business. The Student Senate meeting started out with an update on things to come in the future. On the Jan. 24 the last round of swept funds arrives, and on the Feb 6 it is bring a buddy to Senate night.

Members from LOL presented a resolution to Student Senate about opposing SJR7 (Senate Joint Resolution 7). This resolution will address the definition of marriage, providing that marriage in Indiana consists only of the union of one man and one woman. This resolution also provides that Indiana law may not be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups. See: http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2007/RES/SJ0007.3.html for more information about SJR7.

. Along with bringing this resolution before Senate a draft of the resolution was passed out. It was a brief presentation but LOL stated that Speakers from Indiana Equality and the Human Rights Campaign would be at the next meeting to discuss the issues of SJR7 and would be able to take questions.

The Pep Band constitution was then tabled until the next Senate meeting on Jan. 23.

A committee for the Student Organization Excellence Awards was the next order of business. The Committee is made up of representatives from all classes, Freshmen-Seniors. Nominees were:

Freshmen: Jasmine O'Conner, Eric Sharp

Sophomores: Zani Scott, Meredith Cotton, Bryan Kerr, Ariel Stewart, Aislinn Cooper, Dawn Carlson

Juniors: Jinee Majors, Genevieve Laca, Brooks Ahlfenger, Abigail Fulton, Ben Oesterling, Kathryn Suddarth

Seniors: Meredith Johns, Ben Gunning, Miki Disbrow, Michaelia Gilbert, Cole Clouse, Chris Walsh, Greg Dowling

Next was a brief mentioning of the Fall Ball, which is like the Gala. One differences would that the Fall Ball would not be catered to the degree the Gala was.

This session of the Student Senate ended with some new campus issues.

· One issue is that the clock in front of the Admissions building has been broken since we have been back from Christmas Break.

· A shower in Wiley basement is broken and has been so since school started.

· A request was brought up to have a big trash can put in the dining hall by the cuisine cook so people who wanted to throw trash away without cramming the conveyer belts could.

· There has been freshmen parking flooding the sorority lots.

Wednesday Jan. 16, 2008

Today was a special Senate meeting. Normally on the off weeks the Senate meets for attendance and then splits up into its different committees. This week was a meeting so people from Indiana Equality and the Human Rights Campaign could discuss the issues concerning LOL resolution and SJR7.

The speakers oppose the amendment because it would not allow for the protection of unmarried peoples against domestic violence. This concerns Hanover in particular because Hanover started giving benefits to domestic partners last year.

Another reason the speakers said they are against SJR7 is that it tampers with visitation rights in various areas. If a person were to be hospitalized and they have a life partner as the next of kin, the hospital could stop that partner from being able to visit even if that person wanted them there.

The speakers were then asked if they could argue the other side. They were able to offer a brief segment about the side supporting SJR7. Kurt Smith of Indiana Family Institute (IFI) argues that the amendment protects marriage as a religious institute for men and women.

After this special meeting the Senate split into its committees.

In programming there were nominations to be in Baynum, which is the professor of the year award. Nominees were:

Freshmen: Jasmine O'Conner, Spencer Gray

Sophomores: Ross Alexander, Van Green

Juniors: Kathryn Suddarth, Sarah Shoemaker

Seniors: Krista Bowman, Mike Ripley