Council Clippings Senate and House

The Graduate Student Senate passed all five of the bills it considered in Tuesday ' s hour-long meeting.

The senators did not deal with the pressing issue of the budget, however, postponing the bill to the end of the meeting when it first came up for discussion and then losing quorum before the meeting ' s end.

The remaining senators had no choice but to postpone the bill one more week. They will have to vote on the budget bill next week because, with this week ' s fourth postponement, GSS has pushed it back the maximum permitted amount.

The senators dealt with the week ' s slate of bills. The first bill up for consideration was a joint allocation to the Industrial Design Society of America to travel to a major-related conference in Memphis, Tenn. The organization intends to send 80 students to the conference, one of whom will be participating in a competition while there.

A senator inquired about whether the organization had looked to its department for funding and was informed that the department had no money to support the club. After minimal discussion the senators amended the bill to $1,710 in accordance to the trip distance calculations of the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) and then passed it.

The senators also passed an allocation to Tech Beautification Day despite the organization having no representative present. The bill was amended per JFC recommendations and passed.

The next bill passed by the senators was a joint allocation to the Pool and Billiards Club, which asked for money to send two Tech students to a national invitational tournament to be held in Ann Arbor, Mich. The graduates then discussed two bills from the Sport Parachute Club. The first bill requested funds to purchase a skydiving rig. The rig consists of a container and harness system, a main and a reserve parachute canopy, and an Automatic Activation Device (AAD), which automatically deploys the reserve parachute if the diver has failed to deploy one himself at a certain altitude. According to the organization representative, a single rig is expected to last the club 15 to 18 years.

The second bill asked for money to purchase three Automatic Activation Devices to replace some of the club ' s existing units that had exhausted their lifespan. Both bills were passed by a wide margin.

The senators heard speeches from Kasi David, who is running unopposed to take the position of graduate student body president for the second year, as well as the two candidates for vice president, Mitch Keller and Adam Brancato.

The candidates had the opportunity to briefly address the Senate and delineate the intricacies of their platforms, as well as answering some questions.