After much discussion and deliberation, the Student Senate tabled the five proposals brought before them Wednesday.

Student Body President Ed Hotwagner presented two of the proposals, one to change the student executive compensation and another to place a referendum to the students concerning the elimination of the student vice president for business affairs.

Hotwagner said he was against the compensation change last year but changed his mind because of current budget restraints.

If passed, student executives would receive a flat rate of $2,500 toward school costs instead of the previous 12-credit hour scholarship. For the 2011-2012 school year, the tuition waiver was about $3,200.

“It is difficult to make a budget when you do not have set numbers,” Hotwagner said. “In the past, we’ve had to over guess on how much scholarships cost just to make sure we have set aside enough, the responsible thing to do is to set a number.”

The other proposal was to get the Student Senate’s support to hold a special election about the possible elimination of the student vice president for business affairs position.

Kaci Abolt, the student vice president for student affairs, talked about what would happen if some of the responsibilities of the student vice president for business affairs were relocated to her office.

“This has been in the works for a while, and we’ve discussed it a lot as well as with our advisers,” Abolt said. “I currently do not make any appointments or attend any extra meetings. The funds we are dealing with are student money so it makes sense.”

If the proposal passes, Hotwagner will hold an online referendum election March 19-20.

The other three proposals were regarding requests for funds.

Aseret Gonzalez, the student vice president for academic affairs, co-authored a proposal to spend $327.14 on the Distinguished Professor Awards banquet, which would give awards to nine professors among the different colleges.

“This is a huge thing we’re putting on,” Gonzalez said. “We’re trying to target the different colleges and get the different faculty involved.”

The other two proposals concerned funding for refreshments for the Student Senate’s open forum meeting and funding for the Illinois Primary Awareness Campaign.

Student Senate Speaker Zach Samples announced Student Senate member Blair Jones’s resignation and his plans to appoint a replacement.

Samples is taking applications until noon on Friday, and if he does not receive applications, he will draw from last semester’s applicant pool.

The Student Senate meets every week at 7 p.m. in the Arcola-Tuscola Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

 Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]