Student Senate Notebook
Student Senate committees met last night to vote on legislation concerning large improvement projects on campus, general funds and sponsoring groups involved in presidential campaigns. All items approved through committees will be voted on in full Senate on Dec. 3 before they are officially passed.
By Erin Sommer
Thursday, November 29th, 2007
$75,000 KJHK EXPANSION PROJECT TABLED
The finance committee voted to table a bill to give $75,000 of funds to KJHK 90.7 FM, the University’s student-run radio station.
KJHK is gathering funds for a $250,000 project to move the station from its current office, commonly known as “The Shack,” on 11th Street across from Memorial Stadium, to the Kansas Union.
Tom Johnson, station manager for KJHK, said that the University asked the station to leave The Shack, which is not compliant with federal standards for safety and disability, and move to the Kansas Union by fall 2009.
Austin Kelly, student body treasurer, said in finance committee that he supported the bill because the funds would come from the Student Senate reserve account, which is used to sponsor large projects to improve campus.
Adam McGonigle, Wichita sophomore and chair of the student executive committee, said he wanted to see what the $75,000 would be spent on before approving it. The same bill was passed by the student rights committee.
LING Sponsored for Student Lecture series
The Finance Committee passed a bill to raise $10,000 to sponsor Lisa Ling, a prominent journalist, to speak at the Leid Center on April 3, 2008, as part of the Student Lecture Series. Some senators opposed the bill on the grounds that Student Union Activities should be sponsoring these types of events.
McGonigle said that regardless of the cost, the event would affect enough students on campus to be worth the cost. Bill Wahlberg, Sunnyvale, Calif., junior and journalism senator, said about 700 students were expected to attend the lecture.
STUDENTS FOR HILLARY TABLED
The Finance Committee tabled a bill to give $200 in general funds to KU Students for Hillary, a registered student group which seeks to promote Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency. Although Student Senate regularly sponsors partisan groups such as College Republicans and Young Democrats, the senators who voted to table the bill said they wanted to ensure that the University did not pay for items that endorsed a political candidate.
The Finance Committee will review the bill when the group has told the student body treasurer how the money will be spent.
Discussion
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It's just now moving into DECEMBER with April elections, and already the only people you're asking questions to as the Senate reporter is the guys running for Student Body President?!?
Additionally, why, exactly, was this KJHK bill tabled? I mean... there were specific reasons, right? Who wrote the bill? Who debated the bill? Any interesting circumstances? Did the writer even attend the meeting, or just play catch-up with someone afterwards?
Kansan, your Senate coverage is filled with HACKS, and has been for the majority of the past decade. Get somebody who can actually cover what is happening, and give your fellow students a full view of the picture, instead of just the weak, pre-processed sound byte. I mean, unless you're really gunning for that sweet, safe job as a loser journalist who never writes a real story in their life.
Ya know what would be a good idea for the Senate? Senate cutting all the Kansan's funding until they learn how to write. I remember some people who thought about doing that once. That was a good idea, and I'm sorry I talked them out of it.
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