Questions about number of GSB senators to be addressed
February 22, 2011
Students may have two additional questions to answer when voting in the Government of the Student Body elections in March.
The first question clarifies how many senators each college can have. The second question will determine whether the number of allocated senators will be allowed to change after being established in the spring.
Halley Stille, speaker of the senate and senior in French, said these areas could cause problems if a situation comes up and the rules in the GSB Constitution are not clear.
“It’s an area that’s currently gray and we’d like to make it black and white,” Stille said.
The number of senators allowed for each constituency currently is determined based on the number of enrolled students in the spring. One senator is allocated to serve on GSB for every 1,500 students in his or her respective constituency.
The constituency that brought up this concern was the College of Engineering. Its enrollment numbers have gone up since spring 2010, meaning it could potentially have another representative on GSB.
It is unclear in the constitution if the number of College of Engineering senators could change mid-session. The questions on the GSB election ballot will clear up this area of concern.
“Consistency is very important in GSB and we want to make it easier for campus organizations to follow,” Stille said.
If the bill passes, the questions will be put forth to students to make the final decision.
Also on the GSB agenda is a bill that would return unused funds for the Cyclone Cinema project to their prior GSB accounts. Approximately $340,000 would be returned to the Investment Account and the Capital Projects Account.
The project was dropped when LANE4 proposed including a theater in its plans for renovating Campustown.
Questions will be asked about the bill at this week’s meeting and senators will vote on it next week.
GSB will vote on whether to add the ballet questions regarding the number of senators for each college during the meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union.