Will DeWitt
Reporter
Student body senate passed several bills and revisions in yesterday’s meeting, several of which financed events held by various student organizations.
Senate passed three bills that will help finance student organization events, including Phi Beta Sigma’s inaugural Blue & White Charity Banquet, which will raise funds for Glimmer of Hope and raise awareness for the need for clean water in Ethiopia. The senate also approved funds for the Hispanic Student Association’s Fiesta 2011, which will bring dancers, performers, carnival games, food and other forms of Latin entertainment to the SUB Bowl, and the Latin Dance Society’s Salsa Invasion, which will feature a weekend of professional Latin dance classes in the Waco area for Baylor students and locals.
“Students can go and get really good Latin dance lessons for a very, very low cost,” said Corpus Christi senior Angela Gray. “There’s a lot of attendance from the Waco community and from out of town as well so it’s a big deal.”
Senate also voted to revise several articles to its constitution, mostly to improve grammar and style but also making several substantive changes. Changes made to Article III dealt with eligibility of student body president candidates, ruling that those who are studying abroad can run.
“If you can win a student body president while studying abroad, more power to you,” said Virginia senior senator Logan Snow.
Other changes made to Article III clarified that the student body president, as well as any elected official, would not be able to study abroad while they were serving in their elected posts.
“If they do go on a vacation for a week, you’re still attending Baylor, I mean, that’s allowed,” said Houston Junior senator Cody Orr. “It’s just if you go on some official minimester or something.”
The revisions made to Article IV of the constitution also concern the student court. The eligibility requirements for court clerk were changed so that freshmen are eligible, and it officially designated the chief justice as the official who swears in new associate justices. The revisions also designate the Chief Justice as the court official who determines what constitutes an unexcused absence.
“It’s a very straightforward bill. It doesn’t change much, but it puts us one step closer to having a highly respectable document,” said Fort Worth junior senator Daniel Houston.
The meeting also included presentations by representatives from Relay For Life detailing how someone could sign up for a relay team by visiting the website, relayforlife.com/baylorutx, as well as a presentation by Baylor’s sustainability coordinator Smith Getterman.
“We are nearing completion of the university garden [a vegetable garden],” Getterman said. “We have a pilot bed in place right now and we anticipate actual planting in the coming weeks.”
Getterman went on to outline various ways Baylor is working toward creating a sustainable campus, including giving Baylor Line Camp leaders iPads instead of extensive instructional material. The leaders would then have to turn the iPads back in once Line Camp is over.
“We are charged with taking care of God’s creation,” Getterman said. “We often miss the Lord’s biggest gift and that’s the earth.”
Senior class president Mary-Katherine Leslie was also at the meeting to make an announcement about the senior class gift, which raises funds for scholarships through fundraisers at Chick-Fil-A, Chipotle, 3 Spoons Frozen Yogurt and McAlister’s Deli. Dates and times have yet to be announced.
