For the first time in his term, Government of the Student Body President Matt Craft used his veto power Monday to rescind a bill approved by the senate last week.

The bill allocated $450 to the GSB Senate/Inter-Residence Hall Association Special Committee on the Department of Residence to conduct a Web survey of students who live in university dorms and apartments.

“When I first read the bill, I was a little skeptical about it,” Craft said. “After the debate Wednesday, I didn’t feel this is the right direction for the committee to go.”

The committee was formed jointly in September by GSB and IRHA to investigate the Department of Residence’s Master Plan and the department’s budget. One of the committee’s goals was to get student perspectives on the residence department.

“I think it puts the future of the committee in jeopardy,” said Jonathon Weaver, committee member and GSB senator for TRA. “With having no way to determine the student perspective, this committee will lose all of its potency.”

Craft’s arguments for vetoing the bill included the validity of conducting a survey such as one the committee prepared.

“It would be voluntary response,” Craft said. “Students would have to be motivated to fill this out, so you’ll more than likely get responses from one of the two extremes. You’re going to lose that middle ground.”

Craft said he also was concerned with how seriously the survey results would be taken by the Department of Residence.

“If we can’t trust their surveys, why should they trust ours?” he asked.

Craft’s recommendation to the committee is to conduct focus groups. “With focus groups, there is more flexibility in questions and answers,” he said.

Weaver said focus groups are an option but not the most desirable one.

“I don’t think if we went with the focus groups that we would be able to meet our goal of completing by the end of the semester,” he said.

Alex Olson, chairman of the committee and speaker of the GSB senate, said the committee will meet tonight at 9 in the Cardinal Room of the Memorial Union to discuss any possible options for continuing the progress it has made. The meeting is open to the public.

“Of course I’m disappointed, but [Craft] certainly has a right to do so,” Olson said. “As I’ve reiterated many times, this Department of Residence committee is a senate committee, and we go by what the senate and GSB law states.”

The committee will discuss the possibility of overriding the president’s veto, a motion that would take two-thirds of the senate’s approval to pass.

“The bill passed the first time with more than two-thirds, but presidential vetoes tend to swing votes,” Olson said.

Without GSB’s monetary support, there is a chance that IRHA will not give the committee any money either, Weaver said.

If the senate won’t override Craft’s decision, Olson said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if another bill were brought to the senate for more money.

“However it goes down, it will be interesting to see how we will attain what the senate charged us with,” he said. “But we’ll do the best we can.”