The Government of the Student Body voted to renew the contract with the Daily at its meeting Wednesday night.ÿ

The Iowa State Daily contract was the only bill up for second read at Wednesday night’s meeting.

Marjorie Smith, junior in journalism and mass communication spoke on behalf of the Daily during programs. She explained the Daily serves a good service to students on campus and that readership among students is 95 percent.

Smith said although the Daily is the only student organization with a contract and does not have to go though allocations, it needs to be this way because the Daily is a business.

The contract would keep the paper independent and serve as an effective watchdog of the government.

GSB speaker and senior in chemical engineering Jonathan Richardson proposed an amendment to the contract that was added. The amendment changed the word ‘minimum’ to ‘base’ when describing funding for the Daily, and was set at around $98,000. This amount has the potential to fluctuate up and down based on the amount of student fees each year, which depends on enrollment.ÿ

Richardson was in favor of the contract and said the senators need to think about what their constituents need.

“I think it’s important to approve this contract now,” he said. “Do not allow your personal feelings to affect the way you vote tonight.”

Some of the senators were opposed to the contract, including senator and senior in political science Rachel Allen. She said the Daily was lacking in news and did not cover the campus well.

GSB senator and senior in computer engineering Charles Wakefield was not in favor of renewing the contract for the Daily either.

“I’m kind of against this contract,” he said.

Wakefield said that the Daily’s budget of $1.8 million would survive without the $98,000 allocation from GSB. This amount of money would mean more to other groups with smaller budgets if it was given to them instead. Wakefield’s opposition to the contract was not due to dislike for the Daily.ÿ

“I think the Daily is a wonderful thing,” he said.

Senator Brian Phillips, junior in political science, said he understood and respected the arguments being made from the senators. He pointed to the part of the contract that gives the possibility of the contract being amended.

Senator and graduate student in biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology Adam Krupicka said he had talked with the Daily and without this money, the Daily would feel it.ÿ

“It may seem like a small percentage, but it’s a significant part of the budget,” he said.

Many senators were in favor of the contract because it avoided the conflict of interest that may arise if the Daily had to go through regular allocations every year.

Richardson said approving the contract would not only allow the Daily to be able to speak freely about GSB, but also gives an expectation to the Daily of how much money it will receive. Richardson added it was a student organization that is able to touch every student.ÿ

The bill, which needed 2/3-vote because it was a contract, passed.

There were a number of bills up for first read at Wednesday night’s meeting. One was a line item transfer for the ISU women’s volleyball club. The bill had second read waved due to the fact the regular allocations bill would be up for second read at GSB’s next meeting.ÿ The bill said there were funds left over from travel to various tournaments that were allocated to the group for the 2007 fiscal year. The bill would allow $2,475.20 to be transferred to the NIRSA Nationals Travel so the club could attend this tournament. The bill passed by a vote of 29-0-0.ÿ

Also up for first read was the bill of recommendations for regular allocations from the finance committee to the senate. Richardson encouraged any senators with questions to talk to the committee members.ÿ Also, if any senators were planning on pulling out a group’s budget, Richardson said they should e-mail the groups they planned on pulling and also write it on the board in the GSB office so there was an idea of how many budgets would be pulled.ÿ

Two associate justices for the Supreme Court were also seated at the meeting. Graduate student in political science Jeremy Ziemer and Dustin Anderson, senior in interdisciplinary studies were both seated as associate justices for the GSB Supreme Court.

During closing announcements, GSB senator, senior in computer science and chairperson of the Religious Holidays Committee Ian Guffy gave an update on the policy the committee is writing for religious holiday. Guffy said the policy was created due to the fact there was no current policy for Iowa State for conflicts with religious observances and academics.

When researching and drafting the first draft, Guffy said the committee looked at other Big 12 schools and peer institutions for a religious holiday policy and found that most schools had one.

The policy is currently undergoing approval from different governing bodies in the university. Guffy said he received an e-mail from University Counsel Keith Bystrom with a link to a statement that actually gives accommodations to students with religious and academic conflicts. The statement can be found at: http://www.hrs.iastate.edu/AAO/eod/reasonaccom.shtml.