The Student Council meeting was held in the Mattin Center this week. Originally scheduled to take place in Shriver, the student representatives were forced to change locations due to a scheduling conflict. In addition to regular business, the meeting focused largely on a funding request from the Underground Shakespeare Company to build a stage for their upcoming show. Students also presented and discussed a recent amendment to the Student Council constitution.
The request for funding to build a stage for the Underground Shakespeare Company underwent significant debate at the meeting. The company, which will perform Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing on May 4 and 5 on the Beach, proposed a budget of $429.91 in order to build the set.
Having sent proposals to nine departments, the group only received funding from the Classics and Writing Seminars departments. This funding went to publicity, scripts, security guards, external sound equipment and other expenses.
The proposal to fund the Underground Shakespeare Company was approved by Student Council members. The vote will put the Student Council's budget at about the same place it was at this time last year.
The other major issue discussed at the Student Council meeting was the recent proposal to the Student Council Constitution, Amendment B. According to one Council member, Amendment B "proposes minimal changes to the Constitution but lays the outlines for vast changes to the bylaws."
Amendment B focuses on changing two main points of concern. First, the amendment includes a revision of Student Council's line of succession.
Previously, if the president were to step down from his position, the vice president would move up to take his place.
Under the new amendment, the remaining class officers will be able to select a replacement from a pool of candidates and vote to elect a new president.
According to one Council member, this would eradicate the hypothetical circumstance, for example, of having a vice president who deals mainly with social programming thrust into a policy-making position.
Additionally, the new amendment reinstates the Council's right to revoke or approve the constitutions of individual committees.
This change was made in order to reinstitute a degree of power over the individual committees and rid the system of further inefficiency.
In addition to these two main points, the meeting dealt with other current issues in Student Council. Anuj Mittal, President of Student Council, remarked on a recent shift in attitude on campus from the "bottom up and top down," noting that the faculty is becoming more amenable to student action.
Mittal encouraged students to get involved on issues like housing, the Levering Student Union and the expansion of the Recreation Center.
Treasurer Noel de Santos gave a budget report and brought up the problem of discrimination on campus. "Lately on campus there's been a rash. of hatred which is unacceptable," he said.
De Santos cited recent cases in which the Muslim Student Association and the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance (DSAGA) have had posters defaced and criticized this kind of attitude on campus.
Members of individual committees also discussed upcoming events, including a "meet and greet" candidates forum for prospective Student Council members this Thursday and the Ethics Committee open town meeting held Wednesday.
The meeting ended with announcements and an open discussion period.
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