Tuesday’s meeting of the Student Government Associ-ation began with the tabling of two bills because they had not yet been reviewed in committee and ended in controversy over a new senator selection.
The Senate session next moved on to the issue of 606 appropriations.
Three organizations failed to receive funding because they did not appear at the Senate meeting, and one other failed to receive funding because they did not come to the committee meeting.
The largest appropriation was to Alpha Kappa Lambda for $12,700.
This money is going to be used to sponsor a major on-campus concert, which will be geared towards preventing sexual violence.
The AKL representative stated that the artists are very well known. “It’s going to be big,” he said.
The Senate voted unanimously to fund the concert.
Another controversy arose over Inter-Fraternity Council, and the Senate went into committee as a whole to discuss it.
This closed the meeting to non-senators. After reopening, the senate awarded IFC $900.
The last major issue of the meeting was Selections. Seven candidates came through and were inducted as senators. They were, Nate Bailey, Tiffany Brinson, Aji Dixon, Miranda Lane, Melissa Phillips, Ryan Speed and Lacie Tullock.
During the debate concerning the approval of Ryan Speed, Attorney General Daniel Kane stated that he had worked with Speed at Proffitts, and that he had heard Speed making racist and derogatory remarks.
Also, two senators said that they had heard Speed make similar remarks.
“How does this reflect upon SGA if we let (Speed) in knowing about this information?” Kane asked.
Sen. David Lane, in protest of the decision of the Senate to approve the candidate in question without checking references first, walked out of the Senate meeting after the vote.
In an interview, Lane said that he “was upset that the Senate would not consider the idea of checking references. I am not against Speed being in the Senate. I am against the Senate failing to consider the ramifications of its actions.
“I believe that the Senate should have considered all its options.
“I believe our advisor, Dr. Sally Lee, should have been more responsive to the situation and should have been aware of the legal ramifications of the Senate’s decision. I think it necessary to have an advisor competent in such situations,” Lane said.
Lee declined to comment concerning the debate which had occurred over Speed’s selection.
After the debate, Vice President Jennifer Berry cast the tie-breaking vote to grant Speed a Senate seat stating that, “We may regret the decision in the long run, but we have to give him a chance.”
Speed, when contacted for an interview, stated that he was unable to comment because he had not been in the meeting when the remarks were made.
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