Senate 700 Code Revisions sparks debate on the floor

Sen. Macey Wilson (Fine Arts) and Sen. Max Stein (Graduate-01) objected to a bill about Student Government debates at Tuesday’s Senate meeting, causing the bill to come to a debate, then a vote.

It would require the supervisor of elections to preside over the Student Government debate during the Spring election cycle. However, if only one party has a full qualified executive slate — candidates for president, vice president and treasurer — then the SOE isn’t required to host the debate.

The 700 Code Revisions Bill is sponsored by Senate President Jenny Clements and Senate President Pro-Tempore Smith Meyers.

It also states that each political party’s executive candidates shall attend the debate or they’ll be on grounds for disqualifications.

In addition, the bill says the SOE shall make all reasonable efforts to provide a public recording and transcript of the debate within 48 hours after it ends.

Before the official Senate debate, Sen. Wilson and Sen. Stein spoke during the public debate about their concerns with the bill.

Sen. Wilson didn’t agree with the SOE being in charge of the debates because the supervisor may become overwhelmed with the amount of work, causing something to go wrong.

Sen. Wilson said she believes it’s unfair that if only one full party shows up, the SOE doesn’t have to have a debate, because this could exclude independent candidates running for office.

Sen. Stein said he was fine with the SOE monitoring the debate but had an issue with the disqualification clause, because those failing to attend the debate have not sworn an oath and should have the right to protest a debate by not attending.

“This is highly irregular; I can’t think of a single organization that requires attendance at a debate, including the U.S. government,” Sen. Stein said.

During the floor debate, only Sen. Stein and Sen. Wilson spoke from the con side.

Sen. Kylie Werk (District A-06) spoke for pro. She said the word “shall” in the disqualification clause is not a definite word and up for interpretation by the Supreme Court, which would decide if a candidate should be disqualified for not attending.

She also said parties are only required to attend the debate, not to speak, thus giving them a right to protest with silence. She said the SOE is nonpartisan, making him or her a fair host for the debate.

Sen. Isaac Netzer (Liberal Arts-02), Allocations Chair Austin Champoux and Information and Communications Chair Jackie Phillips also spoke for pro.

When put to a vote, the “ayes” were a large majority. The bill will move on to second reading at next week’s meeting.