The AUSA Senate passed three new funding bills totaling $10,100 dollars at last week’s meeting.
This money will go towards funding the 2004 Senior Dinner, continuing availability of major newspapers on campus, and a school-wide survey.
The Senate’s $5,000 contribution to the Senior Dinner adds to the $55,000 already allotted by the Chancellor and the Provost offices for the event. The $60,000 will provide for a school-wide Frisbee golf tournament on campus with dinner outdoors and the Senior “Appreciation Dinner” and pinning ceremony.
The Senate’s other $5,000 went toward the USA Today Readership Bill. This money will allow students to pick up a copy of USA Today, The Financial Times, The New York Times or The Denver Post around campus for free. This project is also funded by the student activity fee. A campus-wide survey about newspaper readership last quarter showed that 90 percent of students said they would read the paper once a week while 53 percent said they would pick up a paper three times or more.
The meeting also addressed student concerns over the re-licensing of clubs and organizations by the Senate. Some clubs, such as the DU French club, “Francoscope,” addressed concerns about changes in the re-licensing deadlines. Senators also voiced their concerns over the problems in this year’s 150-signature process.
“I think involvement between Senate and individual groups is very important,” said Sen. James Haug. “I think by following a better timeline we didn’t help the organizations.”
A few organizations, including the Muslim Student Association and United for Israel, expressed their appreciation for the re-licensing process.
Leo Simonovich, president of DU United for Israel, said, “It [the process] allows each individual student to put down a vote and gives the organization a chance to flourish.”
Other issues addressed were a presentation by Daniel Kast, the director of Citizenship and Community Standards, on the problems with DU Honor Code violations. Kast proposed that, instead of the two boards that now have to handle violations, that “we melt the two together.” This would “get rid of some of the redundancy.” Kast’s proposal will be discussed at the next meeting.
