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Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Controversial Student Senate resolution pulled, printing resolution passed

<p class="p1">Jessica Sullivan reads the bill that supports the Inter-Residence Hall Association’s expansion of printing services for residents, which now includes students in Broward Hall and the Murphree Area.</p>

Jessica Sullivan reads the bill that supports the Inter-Residence Hall Association’s expansion of printing services for residents, which now includes students in Broward Hall and the Murphree Area.

The first Spring Student Senate meeting on Tuesday night kicked off the semester with an announcement that the resolution condemning the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement had been temporarily removed from the agenda, a unanimously passed bill and Senate plans for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The resolution condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, which was hotly debated and tabled at Fall’s final Senate meeting, was removed from the agenda by the authors.

According to the Palestinian BDS National Committee’s website, the movement calls for the end of all financial partnerships with Israel because of the nation’s human rights violations against Palestinians.

Elliot Grasso, president pro-tempore, said if the authors had not removed the legislation, the Senate would have discussed the bill as planned.

“The authors of that bill sent an email out over the Listserv removing that piece of legislation from the agenda,” he said. “Normally, if the bill was tabled, it would just go back on the agenda. However, because the authors volunteered to remove it, it was not back on the agenda.”

Sydney Kaplan, an author of the bill and Chomp the Vote executive director, wrote an email to the senators explaining the reason for the removal of the legislation.

She wrote that before the bill is brought back to Senate, the authors would “like to invest more time in educating all senators and University of Florida students about the issues affecting the state of Israel and potential ramifications within the U.S.”

A resolution authored by about 12 senators supporting the Inter-Residence Hall Association’s expansion of printing within dorms passed unanimously.

Sen. Michael Christ, minority leader and one of the bill’s authors, said the senators felt that expanding printing in the residence halls is beneficial.

“We recognize that the Reitz Union may not be the most convenient space for students to travel,” he said. “For example, we mapped it out on Google Maps, and it was up to 20 minutes away for students to walk to print there.”

The resolution commends IRHA’s recent expansion of printing services to Broward Hall and to the Murphree Area, which allows printing access for an additional 1,687 students.

Additionally, plans for the Senate to participate in the Martin Luther King Day of Service on Jan. 20 were announced. Senators who attend will volunteer in community projects throughout Gainesville.

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A version of this story ran on page 5 on 1/8/2014 under the headline "Controversial Senate resolution pulled, printing one passed"

Jessica Sullivan reads the bill that supports the Inter-Residence Hall Association’s expansion of printing services for residents, which now includes students in Broward Hall and the Murphree Area.

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