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SA passes 'warning' act

The Student Assembly passed the Reasonable Expunging of Written Warnings Act, the Disambiguate Facebook Act and the Northern Illinois Condolence Act during Tuesday’s meeting. The senate also nominated students to the Review Board and the Elections Commission, voted to send the Green Fee Support Act to the finance committee and heard the Honor Council No Confidence Act.

The Reasonable Expunging of Written Warnings Act, sponsored by Sen. Ben Brown ’11, passed 13-3-4. The bill proposes that students be able to expunge their records of a written warning two semesters after the warning is issued.
Under the current policy students can only expunge their records during their senior year. Some senators said that the bill was unnecessary.

Brown said the policy would be useful for students applying for internships prior to their senior years. The bill ultimately requires the approval of Vice President for Student Affairs Sam Sadler.
The Disambiguate Facebook Act, also sponsored by Brown, passed unanimously and requests that Sadler clarify his policy toward incriminating students using social networking websites such as Facebook. Brown said the current unofficial policy is that social networking websites may be used by students to incriminate other students suspected of involvement in illegal activities.

The Northern Illinois Condolence Act, sponsored by Sen. Brittany Fallon ’11, extends support and sympathies in a letter to be sent to NIU. It passed unanimously.

The Green Fee Support Act, sponsored by Sen. Caroline Mullis ’09, proposed a $15 addition to each student’s tuition in order to decrease the College’s energy usage and increase its energy efficiency. If the SA were to pass the bill, it would still need to be passed by the Board of Visitors.

“I don’t feel comfortable asking the BOV to raise our tuition,” Sen. Orlando Watson ’10 said.

Sen. Michael Douglass ‘11 was uneasy.

“I’m really concerned about [not] doing this … by referendum,” he said.

Mullis responded by saying that the rise in tuition would save the school money in the long run, but the senate still sent the bill back to the Finance Committee.

The SA also nominated Billy Mutell ’09 to the Review Board and Sens. Matt Skibiak ’08 and Devan Barber ’08 to the Elections Commission.

Sen. Joe Luppino-Esposito ’08 and Douglass presented the Honor Council No Confidence Act which alleges that Tuesday’s Honor Council election violated the body’s own bylaws because advertising for the election began 15 days ahead of time instead of the required 30.

The bill’s sponsors wanted it to be heard as old business but the motion was rejected and will be heard at next week’s meeting.