Students voiced their distaste for previous Student Body President Smith Meyers’ vetoes during Tuesday’s Student Government meeting.
During a public debate, students with disabilities spoke out against the veto of one of the six vetoed bills that were discussed May 15. It would have required closed captioning for videos released by SG social media accounts.
The veto prevents non-native English speaking, autistic, hard of hearing and other students from having equal access to SG information, student speakers said.
Some senators criticized the lack of debate before the vetoes, while other senators opposed this view and said what happened was not unusual.
“We have shown a history of embracing objections and being willing to debate over any sort of fundamental disagreement,” Senator Trevor Pope (Impact, District C) said during debate.
Two chair positions were also filled during the meeting.
The positions were left vacant after the senators appointed to them in March stepped down to pursue work outside of Gainesville over the Summer, Student Senate President Danielle Grosse said.
Senator Clay Hurdle (Impact, Graduate) received the rules and ethics committee chair position. Senator Libby Shaw (Impact, Journalism) received the SG Judiciary Committee chair position.
During the meeting, Shaw presented her goals as the new judiciary chair.
She said her most important goal is creating a women’s caucus in the Senate so women’s voices are heard.
“At UF we’re over half female, and it’s not such in the Senate,” Shaw said.
Follow Gillian Sweeney on Twitter @gilliangsweeney and contact her at gsweeney@alligator.org.
