A moment of silence for Abel Bolanos began the Government of the Student Body meeting on Wednesday night. The agenda was re-ordered a number of times to accommodate a recess for nearly 45 minutes so members at the meeting could attend the candlelight vigil held in remembrance of ISU student Abel Bolanos.

Olivia Madison, dean of the library, attended the meeting to explain to GSB what the library had done since the last time she met with GSB. She has met with a number of councils on campus to discuss the fee. In addition to the student survey that was sent out last month, open forums were held regarding the proposed library fee.

“They were excellent sessions,” she said.

Madison said there were two main questions raised at the open forums, one being if the fee would be implemented, how would it affect the library’s rankings in the Association of Research Libraries. Another question presented was whether or not the fee would only focus on the acquisition of new materials, namely journals. She asked the ARL to re-calculate the library’s ranking with the money that would be received by the fee and said there was a change of four ranking spots. As far as the acquisition of new materials goes, Madison said that would be up to the committee that would be formed concerning the fee, half of which would be comprised of students.

“Obviously, that could be a component,” she said.

GSB Vice-speaker Jeffrey Rothblum, senior in aerospace engineering, author of the bill and GSB representative on the University Library Committee, introduced the bill and urged the senate to really consider its vote. He said issues like these are the reason GSB exists.

“This is why we have student government,” he said.

The debate on Wednesday night centered around the argument not on whether or not the library needed money, but rather if a student fee was the correct way for the library to receive the money.

GSB senator and senior in computer engineering Charles Wakefield said he didn’t believe something as core as the library should be funded through a student fee.

GSB senator and Vice President-elect Ian Guffy, senior in computer science, did not support the resolution because he was afraid it would set a precedent of funding essential services through the fee system, which was set up to fund non-essential services.

Madison, addressing the concerns about having a student fee, said it would be in the best interest for students to have a fee due to the fact students would have more control where the money goes in a fee, rather than the alternative — an increase in tuition.

Rothblum said the fee was the best way to go because of all the input students would have on the committee that would be formed.

“That’s a lot of power for students to have,” he said.

Guffy said fees had increased rapidly over the past years; in 1997-1998, student fees totaled $200 while this year’s totaled $747.

“We can’t sustain that,” Guffy said.

Senator Rachel Allen, senior in political science, proposed an amendment to the resolution, saying GSB would support a fee for two years.

Jason Carroll, finance director and graduate student in civil, construction and environmental engineering, and Senator Michelle Bohan, graduate student in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology-agriculture, said the only body that had power to revoke a fee was the Board of Regents.

Senator Timothy Reineke, junior in political science, said it didn’t matter where the money came from because students look at the total amount of money they will have to pay at a school, not just at tuition or fees.

The resolution narrowly failed by a vote of 12-13-2.

Another bill that received a fair amount of debate was funding the ISU Boxing Club to nationals. Marge Dowd, assistant coach for ISU boxing, said the reason there was a need for the funds was because the group qualified four boxers for the national competition, more than the group usually qualifies. She also said the regional competition’s venue was changed from Chicago, Ill. to Lexington, Ky. Because of this, the group had to use some money they had set aside for the national competition. However, in the group’s budget, they had requested funds to Lexington, but Carroll had been absent for that part of the debate due to the vigil, and the error went through unnoticed.

After Ryan Myers, GSB treasurer and senior in accounting, pointed out that according the GSB bylaws, GSB could only fund up to the ground fair rates by the Iowa State University Department of Transportation. When GSB allocates money to groups for transportation, it funds them at the ground rate transportation. However, the group can use the transportation money for another mode. The Boxing club planned to fly to nationals. Because of this rule, a contract was drawn up allowing the club to borrow $2,415.22 from the Student Organization Debt Reserve Account. The money would have to be paid back at a rate of $1,207.61 each semester next year with an interest rate of 5 percent annually. The contract was easily passed, but there was debate on how much to allocate the group money from the Senate Discretionary Account.

Some senators wanted to fund the group the maximum amount with the ground rate, with a 15-passenger van.

Many GSB senators thought since GSB had been funding groups the whole year with similar circumstances, the group should receive the money.

“Please stick to the precedent that has been set for the entire year,” said Jonathan Richardson, speaker and senior in chemical engineering.

However, some thought allocating the group more money for transportation, which it had already received some in regular allocations, would be unfair to other groups that did not receive more money.

“We need to fund everybody fairly,” Carroll said.

The bill eventually passed, funding the group $568.86 in addition to the $2,415.22 loan.

GSB President Emily Jensen, senior in political science, gave her final State of the Student Body Address at Wednesday’s meeting, which highlighted accomplishments and also important issues needing focus in the next session of senate.

The accomplishments Jensen talked about included improving communication and involvement with students and the success with the Iowa Legislature through lobbying efforts.

However, there are still things that need to be done, Jensen said.

“Tuition increases must be stabilized,” she said.

Jensen had some words of encouragement for those who would be returning to senate next year.

“For those of you coming back, continue to kick ass,” she said.

Portia Allen, graduate student in animal sciences, was seated at Wednesday night’s meeting as a graduate senator.

In addition to the two bills that had the most time spent on them, six other bills were discussed and passed at the last senate meeting of this senate. A bill entitled Line Item Creation and Transfer for Student Legal Services, which created a line for advertising for Student Legal Services and transferred $700 from salary, was passed with little debate. The bills recognizing GSB office manager and secretary of the Dean of Students Mary McBirnie and ratifying the ASSET contracts for the fiscal year of 2008 were also passed easily. GSB also approved of the agreement to fund $30,000 of the proposed $60,000 for the renovation of the Memorial Union Sign on Wednesday night.

Closing announcements were filled with farewell comments from those senators leaving and highlighted by a GSB tradition of a song and dance by the president-elect of “I’m a Little Teapot.” GSB senator and president-elect Brain Phillips, junior in political science, performed the song, to applause and laughter.