An amendment allowing students to introduce legislation to the Student Government Association (SGA) general body was passed unanimously at the Nov. 16 SGA meeting.
The amendment, proposed by Senator at-Large Ravi Kaneriya, would require a student to get 100 signatures from full-time students before introducing the legislation.
A Resolution on 24-Hour Security Threat Notification, also proposed by Kaneriya, was passed unanimously. The resolution urges Campus Police Services to notify students of threats as soon as possible.
"Security on campus is a key priority of this organization," Kaneriya said.
Tom Sales, senator of Culture and Society, attempted to reduce the time for notification to 12 hours.
Annelise Catanzaro, SGA executive president, said that the resolution is a recommendation, not a mandate, and so the resolution does not actually give SGA the power to instill any penalties to the College or Campus Police for failing to adhere to it.
She also said that 24 hours is reasonable and being used in the interest of getting the information out "as soon as possible."
The College is going to invest about $5,000 to repair the Eickhoff dishwasher, Jasmine Charl?n, executive vice president, said. The amount of dirty dishes put out for use in Eickhoff Hall is a common complaint among students.
The College has finally admitted the dishwasher is outdated and has put in a request for a new one, Charl?n said. The dishwasher is only being repaired rather than replaced due to recent budget cuts by the College, she said.
Some members of SGA expressed discontent at the meeting with The Signal's coverage of the organization in its Nov. 16 issue.
Lee Whitesell, vice president of Academic Affairs, said during open floor that The Signal's editorial was "unfounded, unnecessary and unappreciated."
He said that since The Signal used its open forum to criticize SGA, he would use SGA's open floor to criticize The Signal. In the editorial, The Signal's editorial board prompted SGA to look beyond its internal political bantering and act on the behalf of the student body.
Two new clubs, Ed on Campus and the Robotics Club, were also passed at the meeting. A new constitution for the American Civil Liberties Union was also passed.
Ed on Campus is a chapter of a national organization, Ed 2010, that promotes networking in magazine journalism, Donna Kardos, acting president of Ed, said. She plans to bring editors and College alumni to campus to help students form contacts in the field of journalism.
The Robotics Club plans to take robots that were made for senior projects and enter them in competitions, Chris Rindosh, junior mechanical engineering major, said. The club will not ask for money to build the costly robots, but only for expenses to attend the competitions, he said.
Jenna Klubnick, sophomore chemistry major, was announced as the new senator at-Large, filling the vacant position left by Dan Beckelman, who had resigned at the previous meeting after he admitted that he was the author of a Weblog criticizing SGA members.
