WSA appoints new Elections Control Board Chair Wednesday

By Kayle  Dembowski
Western Herald

Western Michigan University’s Western Student Association accomplished many things on agenda during their Dec. 8 meeting, including appointing a new Elections Control Board Chair and passing two resolutions.

The evening started on a more somber note as WSA took a moment of silence to respect Jeffrey Haney, a WMU graduate who recently died when his fighter jet went down outside of Anchorage, Alaska.

After a moment of remembrance, WSA took the time to announce ‘Senator of the Month’, Mickey Hanson, Senator for the Haworth College of Business, who was recognized for his involvement and dedication to WSA.

Next, WSA proceeded to discuss the consideration of Jesse Smade for the position of Elections Control Board Chair. Smade went on to discuss why he felt he was qualified for the position and what he hoped to accomplish and improve when it comes to WSA elections.

Some improvements he seeks to accomplish include raising the percentage of WMU students who vote in the WSA election to begin with. Smade emphasized that education is vital to accomplish this.

“It’s important that we get out there and make people aware of the candidates,” Smade said.

Smade was then given the position via a vote.

The meeting then steered to the topic of resolution # 1011-05, a resolution in support of rolling over WMU student’s unused paper prints.

“Let’s say you used 400 prints [for the semester] then 100 would rollover to the next semester. It’s that simple,” Hanson, author of the resolution said.

During discussion, concern was expressed that the resolution was not well researched and left many unanswered questions, which resulted in a motion to send the resolution back to the WSA Student Affairs Committee (who had sponsored the resolution), so that the resolution might be more thoroughly researched and clarified.

However, the motion failed on a vote: 41 against, four in favor of and one abstain.

A friendly amendment was then made to the resolution, wherein the last clause was changed to the following:  “Be it resolved, that WSA advocates, that students be permitted to rollover their printouts from one semester to the next, allowing them the opportunity to save pages from semesters where they do not use all 500 allotted printouts.”

Upon the friendly amendment being added, the resolution was then passed by consent.

Next, WSA discussed resolution # 1011-06, a resolution to rally against Senate Bill 1196.  The bill states that under new legislation, there would be no maximum limit to the amount that can be fined for parking infractions.  A cap could be as high as $250.

“WMU parking services issues approximately 50,000 tickets a year, which is roughly $1 million,” Smade said, who co-authored the resolution.  “I don’t see why they are increasing the ticket prices, especially up to $250.  That’s so extreme and that’s why I co-authored this resolution.”

The resolution appeared to have immense support among most WSA members as it was passed unanimously after a vote.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=22179

Posted by kleonard on Dec 9 2010. Filed under Breaking, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Kallie