Senate discusses two possible changes to BSC

After a few contentious meetings at the start of the spring semester, where debate ranged from the possible addition of a January academic term to changes in the Election Commission rules, Senate met for just over an hour Thursday to discuss just two funding allocation requests.  Senators also gave updates on issues previously discussed at meetings this year.

Sen. Rachel Kauffold gave an update on proposed changes to the Board of Student Communication (BSC) budget, which funds all of Drake’s publications and broadcasts.  There were two main proposals that Kauffold spoke about.

“We are going to pursue a motion to change the membership of the BSC, but not dramatically,” Kauffold said.

The first proposed change would make the BSC less “journalism-related” by having the student representative on the board be a sophomore, non-journalism student.  The current at-large student representative is a first-year journalism student.

The other proposal would implement a media fee separate from the student activity fee, which would create a checks and balances system regulated by both Faculty and Student Senate.  Kauffold said that the BSC is in strong support of these proposals.

“We think this is going to be the best way to go,” Kauffold said.

The next step will be to form a proposal to the Board of Trustees.

Sen. Ben Cooper also gave an update to Senate about the status of the proposed J-term.

Senate voted unanimously in favor of a resolution in support of the J-term last week.  The resolution was passed on to Faculty Senate, which discussed the issue at its meeting last Wednesday, Feb. 16.

“Our resolution that we passed was well received by Faculty Senate,” Cooper said.

However, the motion was tabled to a further date.

Senate voted in favor of two funding requests by student organizations.  The first was a $2,170 allocation to Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) to help cover transportation costs to its Regional Competition on March 28 in Chicago.  The organization had requested $3,120 but the Student Fees Allocation Committee (SFAC) approved a lower amount, reasoning that the organization should be responsible to pay for some of its lodging.  The vote was unanimous.

Senate also unanimously allocated $380 to the Drake Curling Club to help pay for ice rental costs at the ice arena they play at.  SFAC allocated half of the original $760 that the Curling Club requested.

Student Body Treasurer Nate Bleadorn said that he was impressed by Curling Club’s fundraising efforts, including its recent well-attended open house.  However, SFAC felt that members of the organization should cover some of the costs for the rental of the facility.

Senators also welcomed a new face around the table.  Law student Josh Conley replaced Mike Traxinger as the Law School representative for this semester.