Bill Davidson, Speaker of the Student Senate, has what he calls some “lofty goals” for himself and the senate in the coming year, but he says they are up to the task.

He said some of these may not be possible, but he wants to do as much as he can with the help of the senate.

“Hopefully they’re ready to get some stuff done this year,” he said.

This year’s agenda includes a number of tasks to help the students, such as implementing an inexpensive online voting system, simplifying teacher evaluations, working on getting the ethernet more efficient, getting grants, increasing lobbying at the state level and reforming the elections reform act.

The senate looked into online voting last year as a way to get a better turnout for student elections, but found it would be too expensive with cost figures of $1 per vote, Davidson said. One possible solution might be to work with the PAWS Web site.

Other student-centered goals include pushing for the library to stay open later than midnight, increasing the number and use of comment boxes as a way for students to give input and trying to make the ethernet more efficient.

“We’re going to see what we can do,” he said.

Students around campus tend to complain to their friends about what they do not like, but nothing gets done about it. With more comment boxes around campus, students can drop them in, Davidson said.

Davidson said he will work on getting as many grants as possible from any possible source to give to organizations on campus. On that note, he also said the student government wants to increase lobbying trips to Springfield to get more money for Eastern.

Another chief concern is communication with the city. Davidson has already had some experience with the issue after serving as the student city council liaison last spring. He said he did work some with the Neighbors for a Peaceful Neighborhood, a neighborhood group consisting of residents of 10th, 11th, and 12th streets, and have talked about having a street party for the neighbors and students to get to know each other. It is also important to increase contact with city council members so they are informed on student opinion, Davidson said.

The elections reform act needs to be thoroughly looked over, Davidson said. He had a number of concerns following last spring’s election about ethical campaigning.

Perhaps the most “lofty” of Davidson’s goals for the year is looking into starting a designated driver program, which will involve a lot of work to get grants for cars and insurance, not the mention volunteers or a grant to pay them. He mentioned possibly working with the 348-RIDE program through H&H Transportation, the company that runs the Panther Express.