The Student Senate passed a bill Wednesday to send the student body president and the executive vice president to the Illinois Board of Higher Education student advisory committee been passed.

Both Reggie Thedford and Lauren Price will be attending the committee from Friday to Saturday.

The Senate also passed five other bills for events slated for the end of the semester.

The first two bills, written by Senator Cambreona Hendricks, were for an event called Finals De-stress Snacker, which will occur on from 4 -6 p.m. Dec. 10 in the Bridge Lounge of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

The event will feature representatives from the Counseling Center, the Health Education Resource Center and the Student Success Center.

“There will be mozzarella sticks, mini tacos, Subway sandwich platter, and mini cupcakes,” Hendricks said. “Student can also make their own stress balls.”

Student will be able to take a break from studying and also socialize while studying for finals.

However, these bills caused much debate among the senators.

While many felt the event itself was a good, they had some issues with the location as well as the cost.

Senator Danielle Burden said the event might be too costly.

“This is a lot of money on food,” she said. “Especially since the Bridge Lounge is only getting traffic from people like student government.”

The food bill was passed 17 to 4 and the promotional items bill was passed 16 to 5.

Another bill passed was for the Real World event, which will focus on helping students deal with their finances after college.

Many of the Senators said this event will be successful because students, especially freshmen, would find this information useful.

Senator Derek Pierce, one of the authors of the bill, said advertising could contribute to the high cost.

“I know there were some previous concerns about the costs for the advertising,” Pierce said. “But I wanted to point out that the lessons that will be taught at this event will be lessons used throughout your life.”

The event will also cover saving, managing budgets and other financial information.

The Pay It Forward bill was passed as well, which will bring an event about promoting friendly relations among individuals.

This will involve Senators being given business cards that they will pass on to people and have them pass it forward.

Speaker of the Senate Courtney Sage shared her thoughts on the bill.

“It’s a nice thing to do for people and that’s great,” Sage said. “Also what’s great about this is people are in such a good mood that something great happened that they’re going to look at this business card that says student government and that is the greatest way to get our name out there.”

The final bill passed was for the Brunch with Billy event, which will be a holiday theme and for the residents of the Charleston community.

The event is set to take place from 1 -3 p.m. Dec. 7.

Senator Stephen Simpson said the event is a great idea.

“If these kids see that Eastern is doing this, one day they’ll come to EIU and their parents will be like hey these guys did this for you,” Simpson said.

Luis Martinez can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].