After a late start, Student Senate kicked off the fall semester with some heavy debate.
Orange and Blue Sen. Ben Cavataro proposed a bill that would end parking privileges for the eight Student Government officials who are allowed to park anywhere on campus.
"Rules are applied to everyone regardless of what title they have in front of their names," Cavataro said.
However, some senators believed SG officials deserved to keep their perks.
Unite Party Sen. Jesse Sherman said he'd prefer if the executives didn't have to drive around looking for a parking spot.
"The decals allow them to get their business done," he said.
After 20 minutes of hearty debate, the bill failed.
Senators also discussed the possible elimination of The New York Times readership program on campus, where SG provides free copies of the newspaper to students.
Cavataro said some of his constituents have complained about the possible cut.
"We need a true national newspaper of record, which is what students want," he said.
Student Body Treasurer Maryam Laguna, who stopped by the meeting to address the issue, said no final decision has been made to cut the program, adding SG is working to keep both The New York Times and USA Today on campus.
Senators did pass a bill giving the Student Body president the power to create executive orders to create offices, departments and policies. However, his orders can be overridden by a two-thirds majority vote by the Senate.
During the bill's debate Orange and Blue Party Sen. Alden Gillespy voiced his concerns.
He said SG's legislative branch should not be able to overreach the executive, and the president should not be able to do something without the approval of the Senate.
However, Progress Party Sen. Dave Schneider disagreed.
Schneider said the bill was necessary because it discourages too much centralization of one power.
Debate also followed the Budget and Appropriation's Committee's presentation of the 2010-2011 proposed Activity & Service Fee budget of $14.4 million.
Although committee chairwoman Virlany Taboada assured questions concerning the budget would be answered at next week's meeting, some senators demanded their questions be answered Tuesday.
