Week One: Senate Springs Forward

ASG discussesrecordings, Malley,RSO budgetsEmma PollansAssociate Reporter April 12, 2018The first senate meeting of the quarter welcomed discussion of new bylaws that would outline the taping of senate meetings.Associated Student Government (ASG) at-large senators Bjorn Thyrring and Erik Echeona presented a set of bylaws that would formally change the senate laws and allow for recordings.The new rules were modeled after Chapman University’s current system of recording student senate meetings.The initial proposal stated that each senate meeting would be recorded and posted online for the Santa Clara community, and that on-campus organizations would be able to request copies of the video for their own use.The senators discussed and proposed changes to the bylaws, and the amended versions will be voted on at the next meeting.Additionally, Director of Recreation Janice DeMonsi presented to ASG about the current state of campus recreation, specifically the Malley Fitness Center.DeMonsi discussed her plans for future Malley renovations and upgrades, as well as shortcomings in space.“Malley was built for 4,000 students,” DeMonsi said. “We have obviously grown and we will continue to grow so that means in order to accommodate 6,000 undergrads we need 2-3 more basketball courts, we need more weight room space, more fitness room space, more locker room space, we need to double the size of Bellomy Field.”DeMonsi also informed the senators of a “benchmarking report” in which Santa Clara was compared to nine similar universities.DeMonsi planned to use the report to see how Malley and campus recreation could be improved.ASG Vice President Sam Pérez announced that storyboarding had begun for a new sexual assault awareness video, which could potentially replace “Can’t Thread a Moving Needle.”ASG President Jack Herstam reminded senators about the upcoming Preview Day weekend, on April 14-15.He encouraged members to attend and represent the various ASG committees.The senate also voted to pass two bylaws. The first bylaw changed the rules for budget requests so only RSOs requesting $1,000 or more will be required to present to the senate.Requests between $500-$999 dollars now only require a budget plan to be submitted to ASG.The second bylaw states that new organizations now require a supermajority vote from the senate to receive full RSO standing, the previous bylaw required only a simple majority.The next senate meeting with take place tonight at 7 p.m. in the Williman Room.Contact Emma Pollans at epollans@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.