The final meeting of the 15th ASSU Undergraduate Senate began with the swearing-in of recently elected ASSU Executives Elizabeth Woodson ’15 and Logan Richard ’15 on Tuesday evening. Woodson and Richard were sworn in by Administration and Rules Committee Chair John-Lancaster Finley ’16, who will also serve in the 16th Senate.
The Senate subsequently continued last week’s discussion of an emergency measure, authored by Senate Chair Ben Holston ’15, that would give the Senate the resources to fund general fees groups through the remainder of spring quarter. The measure proposed combining reserves from the Senate Innovation Fund and the Senate Chair’s discretionary account to help make up the emergent shortfall.
In the ensuing discussion, student leaders sought to emphasize the Senate’s ethical responsibility to fund student groups and not rescind previously allocated funding in open discussion. The bill eventually passed, while the Senate—following the recommendation of Stanford Student Enterprises—also took back $74,642.64 of unspent money from general fees groups.
Members of the 16th Senate emphasized their intent, however, to reexamine which student organizations will receive their money back and ask student groups which line-item funds they are willing to give back to the Senate.
The Senate also discussed the Bill to Allocate Funds for Overhead Projector System in GCC’s Havana Room. Introduced by Deputy Chair Anna Breed ’16, the bill effectively allows the Graduate Student Council (GSC) to use $10,000 from their own buffer fund to install a projector system.
“A lot of students have approached and said there should be a projector system,” Breed said. “They also approached housing and housing said they would be willing to pay half, which is $10,000.”
The 15th Senate passed the measure, as well as bills confirming Justine Moore ’16 and Olivia Moore ’16 as ASSU Assistant Financial Managers, confirming student representatives to various University committees and confirming the results of this year’s ASSU elections.
As the meeting neared an end, many of the veteran ASSU members, including ASSU Assistant Financial Manager Stephen Trusheim ’13 M.S. ’14, who has been involved with the ASSU for five years, spoke about the many obstacles overcome by this year’s Senate and how excited they were to see new leaders assume roles for the 2014-15 academic year.
After the meeting concluded, Richard swore in the 16th Undergraduate Senate. The 16th Senate went on to assign senators to the Senate’s various committees, while Holston and Finley were reelected to their respective roles as chair and parliamentarian. Victoria Kalumbi ’15, Jackson Beard ’17 and Eric Theis ’16 were elected as deputy chair, appropriations committee chair and treasurer respectively.
Contact Peter Moon at pmoon ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.