Student Senate confirmed the five remaining nominees to the nine-member Student Services Fee Advisory Board, SSFAB, and passed three bills in the Wednesday meeting.
Senators also introduced a bill that, if passed, would request that students who religiously or morally oppose the GLBT Resource Center to not have to pay the portion of student fees that go toward it.
The confirmation votes of the five nominees to the SSFAB were unanimous and followed a brief period of questioning. Senators asked nominees how they would side on financial issues related to the University Advancement Fee, including whether or not nominees support an increase in cost to students.
Nominee and graduate student Diego Garcia said he personally understands how difficult it is to pay off loans and that college is becoming more difficult to afford under the current financial climate. Garcia said while neutral, he understands certain things need to be taken into consideration.
When asked which expenditures nominees would cut, nominee and junior Alex Phillips said that he did not want to make blanket statements when information had not been made available to him.
We have not seen any of the spending or the budgets; we were just put on the board, Phillips said. So I dont think it would be fair to go and say that there are some things that need to be cut, because we havent seen the numbers yet.
Of the bills passed, the Political Science Minor Restoration Bill and the Liaison Establishment Act passed unanimously and the Awareness of Texas Culture Bill a bill to ask the Department of Multicultural Services, DMS, to promote the history of the Alamo and Texas Independence Day passed 46-8.
Challenges to the bill came in the form of the idea that the DMS is not the correct avenue to spread Texas culture.
According to Senator Robert Climmino, the DMS has roots in helping minorities advance in leadership and providing academic aid.
DMS does work with some international students, but its not about transitioning them from where they were to where they are now, Climmino said. What they do is not transition students who get into Texas to make them more comfortable on campus, but make them leaders and more academically successful.