CAB replaces executive members

Four executive positions were approved at CAB meeting

After not meeting last week, Student Senate spent Monday’s meeting discussing its fire pit project and hearing a quick civics lesson by Chief Justice Nathan Cronin.  

The fire pit discussion began in part when President Lily Umeta opened discussion to hear more from senators about how much they knew about the project details and if they needed to hear more before moving forward with plans. 

“I really do need to know that you guys understood everything we discussed,” Umeta said. 

Senator Isioma Akwanamnye answered, saying senators understand what the project is but may have a less clear understanding of the project’s funding details.  

“I think a lot of people know what the fire pit project is; it has been an ongoing conversation from, even before fall, even before you took over as Student Senate president,” Akwanamnye said.  

Akwanamnye said a breakdown of how funding for the fire pit will occur may be helpful for senators to understand where exactly fire pit funding is going. 

Senator Kelsey Crock says upon explaining the project details to students, they are more understanding of the cost. 

“Once you explain those to at least students on campus, the ones I’ve talked to kind of understood like; ok it’s not just some dinky fire pit that’s costing the school this much money,” Crock said. “They start to see the bigger picture of what it is.” 

To see the details of that bigger picture, senate must wait until a more finalized design is received from the project architect, which requires, as planned, a portion of the funding senate allocated three weeks ago.  

After receiving that design, Umeta says senate may stop the project and not use the entire amount allocated for the project. She also says it is up to senators to speak with people about this and other senate projects. 

“It is your responsibility to share what we are discussing here, because even though it’s an open meeting, only senators come to this meeting, so a majority of the students don’t know unless you talk to them,” Umeta said.  

She said her role as an executive member is to assist senators who represent the students rather than act on her own opinions.  

“The issues that you guys present here don’t go unnoticed; I go and talk to the people,” Umeta said.  

In a separate matter, Chief Justice Cronin discussed the Constitutional Court’s role as a branch of the student government. His civic lesson follows senators’ questions about the court striking a senate bylaw unconstitutional two weeks ago. 

He began by describing the separation of powers in the student government. He focused on the role of the judicial branch. 

“The court is a passive body,” Cronin said. “We don’t hear anything until it’s brought up, so if you guys pass a law that’s unconstitutional, but no one petitions to the court that it is unconstitutional, it stays law no matter how long it’s in; It could be 20 years.” 

He then heard questions from some senators about the appeal process for court decisions.

“Normally, like in the US Government, appeals go to a different court than the people who decided it,” Edna Senator Laura Clay said. “If the appeal is going back to the same people who decided initially that they were against it, how is that going to change anything if they already set a decision. Shouldn’t it be other people deciding whether or not it was a mistake of the initial court, or is that not how it works?” 

Cronin said CSC doesn’t have a tiered judicial system with different levels of appellate courts, saying appellants are still given a fair chance.

“When you come in, I can tell you we’re going to hear you open mindedly.”  

Cronin then concluded his remarks with the view he holds of the Constitutional Court.  

“The court is an impartial entity,” Cronin said. “We don’t decide things based on emotion or the way we think things should be, we base solely on our interpretation of the constitution; and what’s in the constitution is the fair and equal rights of everybody.” 

In other news: 

> Senate had $27,188 in unallocated funds. 

> Senate allocated $650 for some of next fall’s homecoming event supplies. 

> Senate allocated $322 for Platinum Eagle Award supplies.