Saint Louis University’s Student Government Association held their first senate hearing of the semester on Wednesday, Oct. 2. They passed two bills, one approving nearly $4,000 in spot funding for SLU Club Swimming among other agenda items.
The senate voted on a bill, Senate Bill 02-24, that would provide SLU Club Swimming with $3,825 in spot funding to attend the College Club Swim Nationals taking place at Arizona State University. The bill passed by a 32-0 vote, with one abstention.
Olivia Mckenna, a senior and treasurer of the club, and Connor Cruise, a senior and president of the club, gave a presentation explaining exactly how they plan to use the spot funding to help them go to nationals.
“It’s competing against the other teams, the big teams around the country — that’s the main point in going,” Cruise said. “There aren’t many opportunities to race at a high level for our 15 to 20 swimmers who are at the top of the sport, nationals is the only meet where they get to race others that are at their level. That is why it is so exciting.”
The other bill the senate passed, Senate Bill 01-24, officially confirmed the senators and committee members for the school year to be a part of SGA, granting them the ability to vote and make decisions.
SGA President Reueline Arulanandam explained that although she is president, she does not vote on bills because she is not a part of the legislative process.
“This bill is basically a formality,” Arulanandam said. “It makes sure we can do what we do here.”
The final decision the senate made was electing Liliana Cisneros as speaker of the senate, who was nominated by current senators. As speaker of the senate she will preside over the senate and lead all the meetings.
During the senate meeting, SLU’s recent budget cuts were addressed. According to vice president of finance, Emma Lercher, SGA’s budget for student organizations will not be affected by the 4% cut applied to all divisions and programs.
“I just want to make it clear that student organization budgets are not affected by the overall operating budget of the university,” Lercher said. “The SGA budget and student organization budget is a separate pot of money.”
Over summer break, the executive board was able to make simple decisions while the senate was not in session due to the Efficiency Bill passed last year. This includes providing wellness and spot funding to student organizations without a vote from the senate.