It was the first senate meeting of the year.
Kim Oswald, an off-campus life senator, held up an official copy of Robert’s Rules of Order, numbering more than 600 pages, to the first Student Senate meeting of the semester.
“Have any of you read this book, or gone through all 669 pages?” Oswald asked the body during debate over whether to reinstate the rules that were voted out last year in favor of a less-formal system.
“Although this model may be used in other student organizations, the majority of students probably aren’t familiar with Robert’s Rules and I would bet that the majority of people in this room have not read the entirety of this book, which we are about to vote on and subject ourselves to the processes of,” Daniel Kington, Honors Tutorial College senator, said.
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Because of the complicated structure of Robert’s Rules, Oswald and Kington said the rules make the senate body inaccessible to students. Despite a nearly 20 minute discussion, Senate reinstated the rules, a parliamentary procedure, anyway.
Other senate members viewed Robert’s Rules as the best method to maintain order during meetings.
“It’s not that hard to understand,” Alexis Apparicio, a senator at large, said. “Nobody is going to kick anybody out of senate if they speak out of turn; it’s just that we want to keep order.”Landen Lama, senate’s lead parliamentarian, explained Robert’s Rules for the body through a detailed PowerPoint presentation to clarify some rules.
All seven of the proposed resolutions passed, including resolutions to return to weekly meetings and to designate a resolution format.
In addition, the Senate Appropriations Commission will have two more voting members in senate general body meetings and uFund became a sub group of SAC. The two money pools will remain separate but SAC will be responsible for uFund applications, reviews and money distribution.
The body also outlined some general goals for the year.
“This is not somewhere you can push your personal agenda, unless it is to help the whole student population,” Jared Ohnsman, senate vice president, said.
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