Student Senate to vote on bylaw to reorganize RSO relations

Associate Residence Directors should be allowed to purchase staff parking permits, according to a resolution that will be placed before the Student Senate tonight, said senate member Joe Robbins.

The senate will also vote tonight on a bylaw change that would reorganize the relationship between senate members and the 132 Recognized Student Organizations on campus, review a resolution recommending an off-campus student be placed on the parking committee, welcome a new off-campus senate member, and consider motions that would allocate funds to the Miss Black EIU pageant, a forum on the Freshman Writing Portfolio, an upcoming mayoral debate, and voter registration, Robbins said, speaking on behalf of Speaker of the Senate Adam Weyhaupt who was out of town Tuesday.

Allowing ARDs to apply for staff parking permits would help them to fulfill their responsibilities, said Robbins, co-sponsor of the resolution.

“If you were an ARD in Stevenson Hall, and you had an emergency and had to go to Carman Hall, you would have to find your car,” Robbins said.

Also, senate members will vote tonight on a proposed bylaw change that would create a council composed of a delegate from each RSO, as well as five senate members.

The council would replace the current system where each senate member is required to represent one RSO. Since there are only 30 senate members, said Marty Ruhaak, co-sponsor of the proposed change, this system does not do enough to represent all the RSOs.

“We should make an effort to represent everyone,” Ruhaak said.

Ruhaak said most RSOs have voiced support for the proposal.

Another resolution the senate will look at is a recommendation that the parking committee add an off-campus student position.

Right now, Robbins said, there are only three students on the 10-member committee: one from Student Government, one from the Residence Hall Association, and one from the Graduate Student Advisory Council.

Robbins said that off-campus students should be represented on the committee as well.

“(Off-campus students) are concerned because they have difficulty finding parking spots,” Robbins said.

The addition of another student member would also help give students better representation on the committee, Robbins said.

If approved, the new position would be open to all off-campus students, Robbins said.

The senate will also seat a new off-campus senate member. Ashanda Simmons, a junior African-American studies/math major, was appointed by Weyhaupt earlier this week, Robbins said.

In other business, the senate will review two bills — one allocating $100 to place an advertisement in The Daily Eastern News about the three contestants in the Miss Black EIU pageant, the other giving a total of $200 toward a forum on the Freshman Writing Portfolio, upcoming mayoral debates and voter registration.

Kristen Rutter, student vice president for academic affairs, said the writing portfolio forum would take place on Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. in the Carman Hall lobby.

Hugh O’Hara, chair of the senate’s external relations committee, said the mayoral debates are scheduled for sometime in mid-March, in conjunction with a drive to register students to vote in the city election, set for April 3.

The senate will meet tonight at 7 p.m. in the Arcola/Tuscola Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.