Resolutions were tabled, spot-funding awarded, Student Conduct reports presented, Student Government Association election commissioners seated and election bylaws amended over the course of a two-hour SGA meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 28.
More specifically, senators voted to table two resolutions; one, which would encourage restricted smoking areas on-campus, was tabled indefinitely, while the other, about the possibility of a future School of Nursing senator seat, was tabled until next week’s meeting on Dec. 5. The amended bylaws fixed what the Election Commission deemed to be an unnecessary timeline in the election process; meanwhile, Students for Life were allocated $1,510 to help cover unanticipated costs in their trip to Washington D.C. for March for Life.
The meeting set its sights primarily on the smoking resolution, written to “strengthen the University smoking policy,” and would limit smokers at Saint Louis University to lighting up only in on-campus parking lots and on city property, such as the sidewalks surrounding campus.
The resolution cited numerous supports for its cause, including, but not limited to, the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2006 report stating that “there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke,” along with the fact that nearly 100 other colleges and universities have nearly or completely smoke-free campus policies.
Graduate School Senator Christopher Wintrode, who was responsible for writing and submitting the resolution, stressed that the resolution was not attempting to ban smokers entirely. Instead, he said the resolution was searching for a compromise.
“How can we find a balance between smokers rights to smoke and nonsmokers rights to clean air?” he asked.
Wintrode acknowledged that the resolution was somewhat of a jumping off point, and that there were still issues to be worked out, such as safety concerns of smokers congregating in areas that are off the more heavily trafficked areas of campus. He said Director of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Sam Simon will be looking into this concern in the coming weeks.
While some senators felt that stricter enforcement of the current smoking policy requiring smokers to be at least 20 feet away from entrances would suffice, others weren’t so sure.
“The fact is, even if the current policy . is enforced, it still doesn’t eliminate the smoke,” said College of Arts and Sciences Senator Ben Yorke. “20 feet [away from entrances], whether it is enforced or not, is not sufficient.”
Wintrode said the new policy regulations would be “very clear and easy [for DPS] to enforce,” and wouldn’t require a measuring tape as the current policy does.
Administrative Vice President Priyanka Veerlapati expressed concerns about how well the initiative would work at SLU.
“My problem is that we’re not like those 100 other schools [that restricted smoking],” she said. As she considered SLU to be neither a large nor small school, and to have many safety issues, she thought it would be better to try to strengthen the current policy and take smoking policy changes “one step at a time.”
After lengthy debate and questioning, senators decided to table the resolution indefinitely, in a nearly unanimous vote-all except for one senator. In the meantime, SGA’s Civic Committee is planning a student survey to gauge student sentiments on the proposed policy. Wintrode expects that a revised version of the smoking resolution will make another appearance in SGA sometime in January.-
Also in Wednesday’s meeting:
A unanimous vote allotted $1,510 in spot-funding for Students for Life to help finance unexpected fees in their trip to participate in March for Life. Even though the group switched to a cheaper bus company, bus fees jumped, leading to higher travel costs than had been originally projected. When increasing each participating student’s fees was not enough, Students for Life requested this spot-funding bill to cover the remaining costs.
The Senate unanimously passed a bill seating Jack Coatar, Patrick Devney, Sean Flanagan, Nikki Jaswal, Aaron LaPlante, Joseph Piehl, Nicole Puhl and Jennifer Scott as the 2007 SGA Election Commission.
Student Conduct Board Chair Rebecca Whitworth gave a brief presentation about Student Conduct.
Senators unanimously passed a bill amending current bylaws for the Election Commission. The bylaws originally required a specific timeline of one week in between the Presidential Debates and the Executive Branch Debates, something the Election Commission decided was unnecessary. The amendment removed the timeline requirements.
Senators deliberated on a bill that could potentially make one of the three Doisy Health Sciences senator seats solely a seat for a student in the School of Nursing. An amendment to the bill failed, and the bill was instead tabled for one week, to be revisited at the Dec. 5 SGA meeting
