Tuesday night’s UF Student Senate meeting teemed with debate about the election code revisions and funding for digital subscriptions of The New York Times for students.
Sen. Preston Jones objected to the final approval of Election Code 730, which would require any write-in candidate to submit an email to the supervisor of elections confirming his or her intent to seek office.
“I think it creates barriers for student involvement in Student Government,” Jones said.
Sen. Anthony Sorrentino disagreed, saying the revision supports SG elections.
The bill passed with just one objection.
Sen. Paul Stevenson voiced concern during the second reading of The New York Times Reserve Transfer bill. He asked why students had access to the subscriptions before a second reading was approved. Subscriptions were made available to students Oct. 29.
UF Senate President Joseph Michaels said no money from the SG Reserves was used for the subscriptions currently available to students. The first six months of the subscriptions were paid for by the UF Office of the Provost, and SG would pay for the other half — about $40,000 — of the subscriptions after the second reading has been approved. Year-long subscriptions cost $80,000.
The bill was unanimously approved.
The Senate also passed two other allocations bills unanimously: $856.94 was granted to Humans versus Zombies, and Red Cross Gators received $504.47 to teach students fire and disaster safety.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 11/5/2014]
