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Friday, May 17, 2024

A student senate bill allocating $300,000 for improving the Student Government computer lab passed Tuesday night.

The proposed layout for the lab was approved by a fire marshal, Student Body Treasurer Maryam Laguna said.

"We'll hopefully have it ready in fall when students get back to campus," she said.

Laguna said she is also looking into improving the Reitz Union copy center and hopes to model it after a University of South Florida "one-stop print shop." She plans to conduct a survey to see what students need and hopes to meet their requests with the new printing center.

Voting on funding for a proposed bug exhibit at the Florida Museum of Natural History was postponed until the first meeting of Summer B to allow senators more time to research and decide.

Sen. Neil Gundavda said he is more inclined to vote for the $60,000 allocation after speaking with a museum employee.

"The fundamental point is that without SG money, this exhibit wouldn't happen," Gundavda said. "We can whine and complain about other budget cuts, but this one we can actually do something - we can provide funding."

Maj. Brad Barber of the University Police Department attended the meeting to speak about public safety and the possibility of expanding SNAP to include off-campus locations.

"SNAP is very dear to a lot of folks out there," he said.

Barber said traveling in groups is the most important thing students can do to remain safe in the College Park area, which has seen muggings, robberies and other criminal activity over recent weeks.

"It's a common sense approach that you've heard for many, many years," Barber said.

Senators also approved two bills to fund upcoming student projects, allocating $2,140 to the Mayor's Council for an outdoor movie series called "Movies Under the Stars."

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The event will feature four movies played at various outdoor locations around campus.

Though created last year for graduate families, the event is open to all students. The movies have not yet been chosen, but potential films include "Australia," "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "Moulin Rouge!" and "Bride Wars."

Another $2,250 were allocated to help the UF branch of Camp Kesem, a national camp with student branches for children whose parents are or were victims of cancer. The bill was passed in a roll call vote 64-4.

At the end of the meeting, Sen. Josh Roberts requested that senators refrain from partisan attacks. Senators will have two weeks to ponder Roberts' request, as senate is out of session until July 7.

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