January 16,2020 Senate Meeting

By:Alexis Butler

Thursday, Jan 16, the Student Body Senate held their first meeting of the Spring 2020 semester, in the John F. Knight Jr. Conference room. Senators and concerned students filled the conference room as the Student Activities and Programming Committee Chairwoman, Makayla DesRosiers, requested funding for a student fan bus on behalf of the Student Government Association executive branch.

The student fan bus provided transportation and tickets to 55 students who were interested in attending the “highly anticipated” basketball game, featuring the Alabama State University; Hornets and Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University; Bulldogs on Saturday, Jan 18 in Birmingham, Ala.

Before funding was approved, DesRosiers had to answer plenty of questions from the Senators regarding the specifics of the event. “We are just asking because an email from Dr. Haywood was sent to the student body saying that she already secured a bus and paid for, and we are just trying to understand where that funding came from if it hasn’t been approved yet,” Senator-at-Large, Brea Willaims asked.

Many Senators were concerned about the email sent to the student body by Student Affairs informing them of the opportunity to attend the game for free by signing up via google doc.

DesRosiers responded “I have no clue.”

“President Whitlow called me beforehand and said that the money was not taken out of the SGA budget for the bus. Haywood just wanted the email sent out earlier for time discrepancy.” Sen. Dax Craig explained.

Vice President of Student Affairs Davida Haywood, Ph.D., confirmed the buses were already paid for with the credit card assigned to her by the university.

“So, on February 1st, I will get a statement from Regions that says that you have to reconcile your card, and then we will have to complete the paperwork and charge an account for that. This will be charged to SGA’s Contract Services’ line. I do not have an amount from A&M’s office yet” said Haywood referring to the ticket prices.

DesRosiers said, “My ignorance to the situation is not on me. There were a couple of conversations that I was not privy to because we all have busy lives, but in the future, I will make it my business to know more information before I come before the Senate.”

With this confirmation, Senators were concerned that even if they did not approve the request, the money would still be pulled out of the SGA budget. Craig asked, “What separates this incident from the one that happened last semester except for the fact that you are coming before the chamber to ask for the money that was already taken out?”

Many agreed with Craig questioning if this act was similar to the previous fall 2019 incident, where the executive branch spent money out of the SGA budget before it was approved by the Senate. After a lengthy discussion, Student Senators were able to move to a vote and make a decision.

In a 5-to-4 vote, the Student Senate voted to approve the request to take the game bus to Birmingham, Ala.

Senate Pro-Tempore, Trentqual Rhone followed by saying, “At this point, we are going in circles. This is not to fault Makayla because obviously she did not know what was going on, but, at this point, I don’t know cannot be an excuse for people to “f-up.”

The Student Body Senate also approved a bill, presented by Rhone, to require the Senate President, Tyler Rice, to release each legislative session agenda and documents to the student body before each meeting. They also approved a resolution, by Brittany Hume-Dawson, to establish wifi and data connection in the Life Science building.