Students may have the chance to catch a better glimpse of what their elected representatives are up to after Student Body President Jordan Johnson revealed a new policy in Tuesday night's Student Senate meeting.
Johnson introduced a waiver that, if signed, would allow previously unavailable Student Government records, such as voting records and video recordings of meetings, to be made public to students.
"Tonight I come here to challenge each and every one of you to join me in signing this," Johnson said as he held his signed waiver up to the Senate.
Johnson said the waiver, which is voluntary, was handed to all student senators Tuesday.
"This is by far not the limit of the things you can give up, as I said earlier you don't even have to sign the sheet at all," Johnson said.
Progress Party leader Dave Schneider said he approved of Johnson's new policy.
"We're thrilled that President Johnson is doing this," he said. "I guess the only question is, what took him so long?"
The $14 million 2010-2011 budget was a hot topic of debate, when an hour-long discussion ensued over senators questions about how students' money was planning to be spent..
The budget is comprised of students' activity and service fees and is used to fund SG sponsored organizations. It will be voted on during next Tuesday's meeting.
Student Body Treasurer Maryam Laguna said SG will hire a consulting firm to evaluate the needs of SG and how to make SG more efficient for the Student Body. SG is allocating $15,500 for this project, and the firm has not been chosen yet.
But Orange and Blue Party Senator Ben Cavataro questioned why SG was spending so much when it could hire Gators.
Laguna said that a firm, unlike UF students, has experience working with other student governments across the country.
"We're students," she said. "No one has enough time or energy to commit to something like this."
Laguna announced the reinstatement of the New York Times readership program at the cost of $60,000.
She said she received legitimate suggestions from the student body about how the program would improve the student experience.
Orange and Blue party Sen. Jon Ossip said almost 2,000 students joined a Facebook group to keep the paper on campus, he said.
"These are the people that saved the New York Times," he said.
Senators also dished out about $2,230 to four different organizations, including Doctors without Borders, Hope for Haiti, Invisible Children and Amnesty International.
