The meeting began with reports from President David Bugge '03 and Judiciary Committee Chair Jun Matsui '03. Both expressed the desire for more activism on the part of the elected senators, as well as the general student body. "We would like to see more response and participation in AAS sponsored events such as the presidential search," said Matsui, who is one of two students on the Presidential Search Committee. "People elected us to represent their voices and [the senators] particularly need to attend school-wide functions."
Matsui also mentioned the beginning of review and recognition of clubs by the judiciary council. "Our goal is to review all currently recognized AAS clubs this semester," she said. Review for new clubs will be held later this month and currently recognized clubs will be reviewed in October.
Discussion about the appeals budgets dominated the meeting and provoked heated debate. There were over $93,000 in appeals filed by various student organizations on campus.
Notably, the appropriation of $600 for rifle-range training for members of the Amherst Republican Club came under attack. Many senators did not feel that firearm protection was integral to the club's mission.
In defense of the request, Mihailis Diamantis '04 argued that "the mission of the senate is not to tell clubs how to spend their money; if they want to learn about firearms, they should have the right to do so in the manner of their choosing."
Senator Ben Baum '03 showed some reservations towards denying funding to specific events that clubs deemed valid. "We are not trying to control the way a club functions through their money," he said. "We're not trying to be pseudo-presidents of the clubs."
The allocation was approved as were all other recommendations of the budgetary committee.
Baum then proposed an amendment to the constitutional provision requiring all freshman senators to be a member of a standing committee. "There are simply not enough available spaces so this year the freshman officers will be exempted," said Baum. The amendment passed 18-0, with one absentation.
The New York Times Readership Program proposed by Allison Rung '05 and sponsored by senator Ryan Park '05 was unanimously approved. "Under the direction of this program, free copies of The New York Times would be delivered to all the residential dorms on campus, Keefe Campus Center and Valentine Hall," said Rung.
Such programs are a common practice at over 170 colleges around the country, including Smith and Williams Colleges and Brown and Yale Universities. "The key to readership is availability," added Park. The senate elected a committee of four members to help Rung and Park propose the idea to the administration.
Two hours into the meeting, the senate heard a motion made by Stacey Kennard '03 that would cap meeting lengths at 90 minutes. "We should be able to get all our work done in 90 minutes," she said. "I was careful in the language to allow for the senate to extend the meeting time."
Eric Osborne '04 felt that the limit was useless. "I see no point to this," he said. "We have to finish all of our business, no matter how long it takes. That's our duty. We would be irresponsible if we passed this."
The senate passed the motion by a voice vote. The time limit will take effect at next week's meeting.
The final order of business was to consider allocating $5,000 more dollars to SoCo's $10,000 annual budget in order to account for inflation. SoCo's budget was set at $10,000 in 1984 and has not been increased since.
"The six of us [on the budget committee] could not fairly represent whether or not SoCo should be given the extra funding so we are coming to the senate for its recommendation," said Treasurer Livia Angiolillo '04.
While the senate was almost unanimous in its support for the allocation, many were cautious about the implications of this decision on the general budget. "It's an uninformed decision if we do not have all of the numbers of the master-general fund before deciding," said Diamantis.
The matter was tabled for discussion at the next meeting.