Student Senate approved two resolutions at Wednesday’s meeting, one unanimously recommending students participate more in faculty hiring procedures.

Currently, students participate in procedures in most university departments by hearing applicants teach in a classroom environment when they visit Eastern, but Student Government would like to see students sitting on faculty search committees and possibly reviewing applications, said Ronnie Deedrick, student vice president for academic affairs and co-author of the resolution.

Students currently serve on search committees for administrators; two served on the last year’s presidential search committee.

“All I’m calling for is one student to serve on a search committee,” Deedrick said. “Currently, students have very little, if any student representation in selecting faculty.”

He said students should help select faculty because of the amount of daily interaction with teaching offers students.

“Students have served in administration searches before. Those people don’t affect us from day to day,” he said. “These people (faculty) do affect us every day. Hopefully you have an excellent interaction with your faculty.”

Deedrick said the resolution is a blanket resolution. It will serve as a suggestion to university departments.

The second resolution approved recommends the Honors Program be named the Honors College.

Calling the program a college is a way to

bring about academic excellence and prestige said Donna Fernandez, Student Relations Committee chair and co-author of the resolution.

“In order to stay competitive with other schools this is something I feel, and others feel, is necessary,” she said.

She said changing the program to a college, which will likely cost $2,000 to implement, does not change the program’s current student requirements and benefits for teachers will not change.

“It’s important because it should help us get more grants. It will create a dean,” said senate member Brice Donnelly, also a co-author.

The resolution recommends the change on the grounds that “an Honors College will facilitate institutional development and fund raising activities in direct support of it’s honors programs.”

The Graduate Student Advisory Council addressed the senate about adding an additional $1 to full time graduate student tuition in effort to increase the activities and involvement of the organization.

GSAC president Mike Ruty said the council’s expenditures were already $800 in debt at the beginning of the year because the group is only funded through a $1 graduate fee implemented in 1991.

He said the current fee is not enough because of a national conference group members are sent to annually, and the extra dollar will fund extra community activities or social events for the group, among other things.

The senate’s Tuition and Fee Review Committee will review the proposal in the future.

Best Buddies, an organization that pairs students with mildly or moderately handicapped individuals for a year-long commitment to contact them periodically for conversation and outings, was approved as a Registered Student Organization.

The senate meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Arcola-Tuscola Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.