UF’s Student Senate had a heated debate over a resolution supporting college affordability Tuesday night.
At the last meeting of the semester, the Senate debated the resolution. Those who supported the resolution said it would reaffirm Senate’s commitment to keeping UF’s tuition low. Those who opposed it said the resolution didn’t address rising student fees, like the student activities fee, which funds student organizations and projects.
At the beginning of the meeting, Senate voted to table proposed committee appointments for the Capital Improvement Trust Fund until Jan. 5.
During that meeting, Student Body President Joselin Padron-Rasines will be able to discuss her appointment, said Senate President Susan Webster. The committee members use funds to support non-academic student life in buildings on campus, such as the Reitz Union and Newell Hall.
Later in the meeting, the resolution was debated.
Sen. Audrey Guerra (Liberal Arts, Access) said the bill supports increasing transparency in tuition increases, and it doesn’t outline how that would be done.
“We should definitely explicitly state that we’re going to be doing everything we can,” she said.
Sen. Jasmine Haddaway (Murphree, Access) said she’d be supporting the resolution.
“I would much rather have us united,” she said. “This is unfair to let the Student Body suffer because of our arguments.”
After debate, the Senate passed the resolution.
Contact Caitlin Ostroff at costroff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @ceostrof
