After a surprisingly talkative open forum, the Student Government Association amended one bill and tabled a resolution.

The open forum invited discussion about a fence to be built around “the pasture,” which is located on the corner of Vandeventer and Laclede Avenues. Also, the resolution to implement a limit on the annual percentage of housing rates was tabled. Finally, a bill to publish the SGA’s budget was amended to simply post it on the Web site.

Commuter Senator Rich Bergin jokingly brought to the attention of the Senate the building of a “giant Trova garden.”

Bergin referred to “the pasture,” which is currently serving as the temporary residence for several Trova sculptures. The University is planning on building a fence around this grassy area to protect the statues from being vandalized.

“If the statues are temporary, why build a fence?” Bergin questioned. “I refuse to believe that a fence would be built for a period of two years and then just torn down.”

What concerns the Senate, along with the Student Activities Board, is the use of the area for Spring Fever. With a large fence and only one gate, it would make it nearly impossible to use the area for the annual carnival-like event.

SGA President Jay Perry said that he wanted to sit down and discuss with the administration ideas that the Senate has in opposition to this plan.

Senator Angela Haas, graduate commuter, displayed obvious emotions of dislike for the sculptures. “The Trova sculpture, when they start putting it up, let me know because I’ll bring a truck and take it down before it is put up,” she said with a smirk.

Also during open forum, Executive Vice President Lauren Gretz announced possible changes for the House of Governors. She said, with little objection from the Senate, that HOG might receive the power to charter student organizations. Currently, that power is given to the Senate.

In new business, the resolution “to implement a limit on the annual percentage increase in housing rates” was left undecided.

The reason for the bill: “We were angered about the housing increase,” said Adam Altman, undergraduate commuter senator.

The resolution asks that the University agree not to raise the average housing rate by more that 8.54 percent a year.

When questioned as to where that figure came from, Altman said that he and the other co-authors of the bill took an average of 5 percent and added 3 percent to account for inflation.

Members of the Senate questioned whether this figure was comparative to other universities.

Compared to schools like Georgetown and DePaul, Altman responded sarcastically, “Are you going to compare the land value of midtown St. Louis to Washington, D.C. and Chicago?”

Heidi Bookwalter, Griesedieck Hall senator, said the reason for the resolution was family planning. “So families will know it cannot increase by more than 8.5 percent,” she said.

Upon further questioning, the resolution was tabled until next week’s meeting.

The other piece of legislation was a bill to require publication of the SGA internal budget.

Mike Benoist, Fusz Hall senator, co-authored the bill. He stated that since SGA allocates funds to itself, which no other student organization does, the budget should be available for any student to view.

Every student has access to the way SGA spends its funds through the financial vice president.

Bergin pointed out that a copy of the budget could be posted inside the SGA office.

First Year Senator John Eckert asked if it was worth spending the money to print an insert or buy a section of The University News as the bill requires. “Is it worth it when we can just post it in the office?”

Bergin amended the bill to place the general budget on the SGA Web site to be updated at the beginning of each semester.

Altman expressed dislike in the amendment. “I am appalled that the authors accepted this amendment,” he said. “How many students will go to the SGA Web site? About as many that will go and approach the financial vice president.”

By a vote of 13-12-0, the bill was approved.