Council Clippings: GSS expels Senators for poor atttendance
This week's Graduate Student Senate meeting began with a roll call, which revealed that the group did not have quorum.
The Senate proceeded to their announcements as they waited for other members to arrive and begin the meeting.
Varun Prasad, Chair of the Joint Finance Committee also reminded the Senators that the committee is still short two members, including 1 graduate member, should the senators be interested.
After announcements a second roll call was conducted, this time meeting quorum. There were three Senators who, including their absences this Tuesday, had exceeded the maximum number of allowed absences. The first action of the Senate was to remove those Senators from their offices, immediately increasing the percentage of Senators present to 2/3 of the voting body.
A motion was then raised to move three bills into old business from new business, allowing them to be voted on this week. The three bills were a Resolution to amend the Constitution of the Graduate Student Senate, a resolution to amend the Bylaws of the Graduate Student senate, and the Joint Allocation to the Student Center.
The motion passed, and the bills were moved into old business, with the Joint Allocation to the Student Center moved to the end of new business.
The first bill considered was the resolution to amend the Constitution of the Graduate Student Senate. Four changes were proposed to the Constitution.
"These changes are really to help explain our viewpoint-neutral terminology. Council has recommended that we put in terminology to help explain what we mean by that-that we mean unbiased allocation of funds, and by placing it in our Constitution we are really holding ourselves to that," said Mitch Keller, Senator.
There was debate over whether or not the clarification was necessary, as the Constitution already outlined their stance as viewpoint neutral. The Senate passed the resolution unanimously, using the PRS voting system that was recently enacted.
The Senate next considered the resolution to amend the bylaws of the Graduate Student Senate.
These amendments included the updated appeals process for student organizations that wish to appeal the allocation given to them. The new process allows organizations to appeal to the Graduate Judicial Cabinet should they feel that the allocation was not made in a viewpoint neutral, or unbiased, manner.
There were two secondary motions to amend the resolution. The first dealt with a typographical error in the bylaws. The second motion was to include the parenthetical phrase "in cooperation with Graduate resident Governing Bodies" in a portion of the bylaws dealing with housing. Both amendments and the final resolution passed.
The next bill was the joint allocation to the GT Baseball Club. The club was requesting registration and equipment fees for the upcoming Fall Ball tournament in Cobb County, where the club will have 46 members competing. Club president John Hickok explained that the fees for the tournament were not in the club's original budget because the club was not aware of this tournament last October. The bill passed with 11 votes in favor and 3 abstentions.
The fourth bill voted on by the Senate was the joint allocation to Ramblin' Rockets, which requested funds to help them build rockets and put on events. The Senate passed the bill unanimously.
The final bill voted on by the Senate was the joint allocation to the Student Center, to help them begin a rental program for bands. It passed the Senate with 8 votes in favor and 2 votes against.
Bills passed
Resolution to amend the Constitu tion to explain terminology
Resolution to amend the Bylaws
Joint Allocation to the GT Baseball Club for Fall Ball
Joint Allocation to Ramblin' Rocket Club for rocket funds and events
Joint Allocation to the Student Center for band rental program
