The Government of the Student Body endorsed ISU President Gregory Geoffroy’s proposed changes to the Free Speech Code and introduced several finance bills at the senate meeting Wednesday night.

The proposal would allow most campus grounds and facilities to be used by the public without applying for prior permission. Current policy requires university approval for activities held anywhere on campus except public forum areas.

“President Geoffroy, at the behest of [GSB] President [Andy] Tofilon, proposed this earlier this year to benefit all students on campus,” said Sen. Tony Luken, LAS.

According to GSB bylaws, if there is a change in the student information handbook, the GSB Rules Committee must look over the proposal. The rules committee fully endorses the changes proposed by Geoffroy, Luken said.

“The current proposal is what the university legally has to do and so much more,” Luken said. “It was one of the axes we had to grind with the former administration. We finally found an ear in Beardshear Hall instead of a stone wall.”

New bills stemming from the finance committee were also introduced, including “Helping the Boys of Summer,” a bill that would give money to help the newly formed ISU Baseball Club, which will include about 150 students this year. Last year, the men’s baseball and swimming and diving teams were cut due to decreasing revenues.

GSB Finance Director Steve Medanic proposed allocating $1,650 to the club from the Special Projects Account as well as $1,216 from the Senate Discretionary Account to fund the purchase of equipment.

“We felt really bad last year when both the programs lost funding,” Medanic said. “If we can chip in to help them along the way, it’s defiantly worth our money.”

The finance committee also proposed providing $161,000 in student fees to the Analysis of the Social Services Evaluation Team. ASSET is funded through the city of Ames, the United Way of Story County, the Story County Board of Supervisors, the state of Iowa and GSB. The organization provides money to non-profit organizations in the community.

GSB established five priorities for ASSET – childcare services; sexual assault education, prevention and treatment; programs that foster interracial and intercultural understanding; programs that educate and treat substance abuse problems; and programs providing legal support not covered by Student Legal Services.