The Student Senate passed an amendment to its bylaws after three weeks of discussion and voted in favor of the budgets of the student government, the Student Recreation center, Apportionment Board and the University Board.

The Student Recreation center will have a $211,000 budget and the University Board will have a $216,489 budget.

Student Senate members questioned the recreation center budget, which raised the pay of the graduate assistants employed by the center.

Mary Lane, the student vice president for business affairs, said this was a requirement to keep the positions competitive with other universities.

“They took a $15,000 cut last year and have not budgeted for any new equipment,” Lane said.

The Student Senate members also passed the bylaw changes, including raising the GPA requirement from 2.3 to 2.5. They also changed the number of absences Student Senate members are allowed as well as office hour requirements.

Student Senate members also eliminated the student vice president for business affairs position from their bylaws. The proposed changes passed with 23 members in favor and two in abstention.

Members proposed a possible student body constitution change that would require the option of “no confidence” to be placed on the ballot for future elections.

The idea of “no confidence” means that the voter does think any of the candidates would do a good job.

Roberto Luna is one of two Student Senate members who sponsored the proposal and said the idea was about keeping transparency in what the Student Senate does and how they vote.

“This is something we used to do, but I just kind of faded away,” Luna said.

Luna is also one of the sponsors of the possible constitution change which he said came about partially after the low election turnouts last week.

“We’ve confident in the executive board elected,” Luna said. “But a student approached me and brought it to my attention that there is not a ‘no confidence’ option.”

Student Senate members discussed the issue for more than 20 minutes and the sponsors plan to meet to possibly reword, amend or remove the item from the table.

Student Body President Ed Hotwagner said there is nothing in the Student Body constitution prohibiting the addition of this option and thus wants to discuss it more with the other sponsors.

Also, the members also presented a proposal about the Internet posting of the records of how Student Senate members vote.

In his report, Student Senate Speaker Zach Samples announced the resignation of Student Senate member Antonio Romo, who chose to resign due to his busy schedule.

Romo is a member of the Army National Guard and will report to basic training within the next month. Because of this he is taking his finals early and felt he could not offer Student Senate a fair time commitment.

The next Student Senate meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11 in the Arcola-Tuscola room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

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