Vice Provost Shiela Wright addressed Senate about students being able to study abroad without additional costs, and Christine Austin and Gail Howard spoke about proposed changes to residence life policy and code of student conduct.

Wright said that the Cherrington Global Scholars Program will allow all students who want to study abroad to do so without additional costs starting in 2004 [see story p. 5].

The program applies to the DU approved study abroad programs that last one quarter. Students must have a 3.0 grade point average, and must be able to fit study abroad into their degree program.

The program does not include interterm trips abroad. However, Wright said DU is working to create summer programs in the future to accommodate students who are unable to travel during the academic year, such as athletes.

Wright said, “The chancellor has just been on us to do this forever, and it’s something that he really really believes in, that anybody who wants to should be able to study abroad.”

Austin, the director of Citizenship and Community Standards, and Howard, the director of residence life for the Department of Residence, are currently working on changes to the residence life policy and code of student conduct.

They are considering: replacing residence hall probation with university disciplinary probation, developing peer boards in the residence halls to hear and decide issues of community concern, punishing marijuana as a drug violation instead of an alcohol violation, and providing more focused education for alcohol and illegal drug violations.

Howard said the discontinuation of residence hall probation is because it “really doesn’t have any impact on changing that behavior.”

Regarding the peer board, Howard said, “I’ve worked at four institutions of higher education and this is the only one that does not have a peer review system.”

A draft of these proposed changes states, “We feel that student input on these issues is vital […] to insure adoption and smooth integration.” A forum is being considered in conjunction with the Senate to increase student input.

In other Senate news, Senator Marla Poklemba said some students addressed her about last week’s Senate ad in the Clarion.

She said students were upset that the Senate spent the additional money on the ad when they had already “wasted money.”

Senator Petraitus said the finance committee is working on major revisions to the excess funds bill.

He said it will be submitted to the Senate for approval at the first meeting of spring quarter.

The Senate denied a bill proposed by Senator Christopher Gomez to “raise the compensation package of Comptroller Assistant Scott Rathbun.”

Student fees under the control of the Senate run the Comptroller’s Office. The office handles the accounts of student organizations.

Chair of Marketing Aaron Longwell suggested the Senate look into a different approach than a bill.

The Board of Contingency allocated Club Figure Skating $3,967 for Collegiate Team National Figure Skating Championships March 15-17.

The Diversity Committee allocated $90 to Sigma Chi for a project co-sponsored with Hillel to make peanut-butter-and- jelly sandwiches for the homeless.

The last Senate meeting this quarter will be held Wednesday, March 13 at 6 p.m. in Room 1864.