Last Friday, the Student Senate passed many motions on varied topics. The legislation ranged from amendments of their own bylaws to the policies behind who may use the Union parking spaces.
The first parking-related topic that came under dicussion concerned the parking meters added to 15th Street in front of the Union. The Senate unanimously called for itself to investigate what led to the meters being installed.
One senator expressed pleasure with the parking meters, saying they make it much more possible to find a spot during the day because it discourages individuals from parking there in the morning and staying through the evening. Emphasis was placed, however, on the fact that the motion was about why the meters were installed, rather than whether they should be there at all.
Senator and Graduate Council President Wally Morris II said in a subsequent interview, “Over the course of the last year, the story in the Parking Review Board meetings has changed.” He said that it was initially claimed that RPI had nothing to do with the addition of the meters, but now a “certain amount of involvement” has been acknowledged.
In a different parking-related area, the Senate decided to hold off on taking immediate action. A motion was introduced to make it policy that Union parking spots shall only be granted to students and employees of the Union.
As the debate progressed, the motion was changed to allow for spaces for anyone working in the Union. Discussion also involved the notion that the spaces were granted permanently and can not be taken away once granted. The motion was tabled until the next meeting so that it could be discussed with the Union Administrative office as well as the Executive Board.
Escort services also came up at the meeting. The Senate passed a motion calling for an investigation into the possibility of having an escort service that did not put additional burdens on Public Safety. One concern raised was that if an outside service was used, there would have to be screening for the individuals. Expanding the shuttle service times was brought up as an alternative, but others were opposed to the idea since the route does not cover all possible pickup locations.
Grand Marshal Mike Dillon said in a later interview that he would prefer walking escorts to be members of Public Safety, but for a third party to be used as the driven escorts. He did not feel that Public Safety should have that burden. He said, “The last thing I want to see is Public Safety have to respond [to an incident] with a passenger or have to bring them back first before being able to respond.”
The Senate also thanked the mayor of Troy for participating in Pizzas with the Mayor and amended a few of its bylaws. One of these amendments codified a new procedure to be used for appointing the student members of the Review Board. This new process would clear up a lot of the uncertainties that arose after the initial student appointments to the Review Board this year.
At its last March meeting, the Senate added one regular member of the Review Board and one alternate member. In an emergency meeting Monday night, they added the second alternate student member, filling all of the possible student seats on the Review Board.
The last meeting of this Senate’s term will be held this Friday at 4:30 pm in Union 3202. The Grand Marshal has said that food and snacks will be served leading up to the GM Week finale.
