The Government of the Student Body presented several new bills on its agenda to start off its first meeting of the 1998-99 school year.

One development of Wednesday night’s meeting had one of last year’s candidates for GSB president trying to get back on the senate.

Christopher Wisher was nominated for the position of off-campus senator, but the bill was not passed by the senate.

Wisher, who served as a GSB senator for the Towers Residence Association last year, was removed from the senate at the end of last year when the senate discovered that he had withdrawn his enrollment from the university.

Casey Powers, off-campus, was the first senator to object to the bill to reinstate Wisher as an off-campus senator.

“Several people, including my constituents, have expressed concerns on the fact that he doesn’t like greeks,” Powers said. “As an off-campus senator, you have to deal with the greek system, and he obviously didn’t want to do that.”

GSB President Bryan Burkhardt commented on the failure of the bill.

“It was an interesting chain of events last year,” Burkhardt said. “It was unfortunate that he had to be removed from the senate last year, but as far as the decision goes, it was up to the discussion of the senate, and they made their decision as they saw fit.”

Another issue that was addressed was a bill regarding the GSB/George Washington Carver project account. The senate voted to transfer about $9,900 to the new account from the executive scholarship money in the GSB operating budget.

The project is designed to celebrate the legacy of Carver and to inspire students to be the best they can be, Burkhardt said.

“Since Jamal and I have received other scholarships, we did not need to receive GSB scholarships for executives,” Burkhardt said. “Because of the GWC celebration and theme, we thought that there would be no better place to put it.

“The money in the GSB/GWC project account will be administered by Jamal, me, GSB finance director Jeremy Williams and GSB Adviser Laura Bestler in accordance with GSB bylaws and the constitution,” he said.

Another major issue, was a bill motioning to rescind the 2 percent budget cut that was given to student groups and organizations last semester.

“Last spring, because of estimated budget constraints, we had to cut funding for all student groups by 2 percent,” Burkhardt said. “However, this summer, in the last couple of weeks, finance director Jeremy Williams found some new funds in the budget that enabled us to rescind the budget cut.”

Burkhardt said since GSB overestimated its budget, student groups can take advantage of the new funds right away.

The bill to approve new GSB bylaws also was passed at the meeting.

Overall, after the first meeting, most executives and senators were optimistic about GSB this year.

Burkhardt said that he is looking forward to the new school year with GSB, and he is excited about the new changes and bills enacted.

Powers also said he thought the meeting went well and hopes GSB will continue to improve in the coming year.

“I do hope to see a little less bickering, and I want to see things get done,” Powers said. “I think things are going well, and the meeting was very efficient and timely. I think the school year will go well.”

In other news:

One focus of the meeting was filling several vacant seats on the GSB senate.

Mark Ruehlaender and Christian Edmiston were seated as new international and graduate senators, respectively.

A new speaker and vice-speaker were also appointed. The position of speaker was given to Marcia Johnson, and the position of vice-speaker was given to Justin Hattan.