UF Student Government pushed back passing three new bills originally brought forth last Fall at the first meeting of the Spring semester Tuesday night.
The bills include SG’s support of a campus-wide student mental health survey, a resolution to thank Florida Fresh Dining and UF 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 University Police. It’s unclear why the bills were postponed indefinitely.
One postponed bill emphasized SG’s recognition of the need to collect data about mental health concerns from students.
The UF Student Senate and the Counseling and Wellness Center created a survey to understand the mental health of students and to determine which resources are needed the most to support students.
A second bill resolved for UPD and SG to conduct annual safety walks on campus to highlight areas of concern and make campus safer for students.
Last October, 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 was a resolution commending the dining and business staff for their work of making exam week meal deals for students.
The bill said the Senate, Florida Fresh Dining and Business Services discussed increasing awareness of 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 appoint Sulei Meija, a UF public health junior, as the Transfer Affairs Cabinet Director.
The Transfer Affairs Cabinet helps 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 director by majority vote, with one objection.
Student Body President Blake Cox made an appearance at the meeting to explain goals for SG during the Spring and to give an update on extending hours at Marston Science Library.
Cox said Marston hasn’t yet acted on its plan to open 24 hours a day, five days a week, for the Spring 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 Fall 2025.
While Marston should be 24 hours for the indefinite future, he said, university administration still must examine student use data to determine how sustainable the hours will be.
Cox said 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.
