UF Student Government pushed back passing three new bills originally brought forth last Fall at the first meeting of the Spring semester.
The bills include SG’s support of a campus-wide student mental health survey, a resolution to thank Florida Fresh Dining and Business Services for their help in creating exam week market deals for students, and a resolution to improve the safety of campus by conducting annual safety walks with the University Police Department. It’s unclear why they were postponed.
One postponed bill emphasized SG’s recognition of the need to collect data about mental health concerns from students.
UF Student Senate and the Counseling and Wellness Center plan to collaborate to distribute a survey to understand the mental health of students and to determine which resources are needed the most to support students.
A second bill resolves for UPD and SG to conduct annual safety walks on campus to highlight areas of concern and make campus safer for students.
Last October, UF SG and UPD walked around campus to evaluate locations needing crosswalks, under-lit areas and abnormal light bulbs needing improvement to increase student safety.
The last bill pushed back is a resolution commending the dining and business staff for their work of making exam week meal deals for students.
The bill said UF Senate, Florida Fresh Dining and Business Services are collaborating to discuss plans to increase awareness on extended hours of dining facilities on campus during finals week.
The bills will be debated on during a later meeting.
Another key piece of the agenda was the motion to place Sueli Meija, a UF public health junior, as the Transfer Affairs Cabinet Director.
The Transfer Affairs Cabinet at UF helps to integrate incoming transfer students into UF. The cabinet itself is under the wider SG Transition Division, which also helps first-year, first-generation and out-of-state students.
Meija was appointed as director by majority vote, with one objection.
Student Body President Blake Cox also made an appearance at the Tuesday night meeting to explain goals for SG during the Spring semester and an update on extending hours at Marston Science Library.
Cox said Marston hasn’t yet acted on its plan to open 24 hours, five days per week, for the Spring semester because new overnight employees need to be trained before they begin.
Cox emphasized SG doesn’t decide the budget for 24-hour Marston, and he didn’t oppose the library being 24 hours during the Fall semester.
While Marston should be 24 hours for the indefinite future, he said, university administration must still examine student use data to determine how sustainable the hours will be.
Cox said that this semester he wants transparency from SG, which is why he attended the meeting himself. Acknowledging students’ frustration that SG took a while to give updates on the library, he said he promised he was listening to their requests.
“Personal belief of mine is to never promise something that I am not certain that I can deliver on,” he said.
Contact Nevaeh Baker Harris at nbakerharris@alligator.org. Follow her on X @nbakerharris
