Last night’s ASCSU Senate meeting passed a bill concerning the amount of money allowed for Presidential Campaigns.

“The total amount spent on or by any campaign running for President and Vice President, whether personal, donated, contributed or imposed, shall not exceed $2,000,” the bill states.

With the original amount being $1,500, senators discussed how the $500 increase would affect the student body.

“CSU is a land grant university and what that means is that we were opened up to make higher education available to those who could not afford it,” Admissions Ambassador Deep Badhesha said. “One out of four students here is a first generation student and over half the students here receive financial aid.”

Senator Lexi Evans, who proposed the bill, said she does not see this as a problem.

“This $500 is supposed to open new avenues to campaign. The $500 will increase your availability. Your creativity will also increase,” Evans said. “The idea that you will be essentially buying votes is absurd.”

Badhesha disagreed and said that the budget increase would restrict who could run as president.

“Every single time you increase the budget, those financially needy students need to work harder than their counterparts,” Badhesha said. “We were founded on the principles of extension, making sure people could do it. By increasing the budget, we are essentially cutting off people.”

Evans said that creativity is an important factor in campaigning, that the extra money could only help to improve creativity.

“Traditional visibility of how campaigns have run have been changed. Give them more money to give them more creativity to do things,” Evans said.

Other members of senate mentioned their view on creativity during the discussion.

“I feel that keeping it at $1500 would fuel more creativity than bringing it to $2000,” said Senator Jeremy Smith.

The bill passed with 13 votes in favor and six opposed.

Several other bills were passed this week, the last senate meeting of Fall Semester.

The diversity bill, created by Senator Kwon Yearby, underwent a final vote and was officially passed. The bill allows a representative from each of the diversity groups to have a voice in senate. Though they are not given power to vote, they can run for positions under their respective colleges if they choose.

A bill stating where campaigners are not allowed to promote themselves was passed. Due to the close of the the quad, rules needed to change for the upcoming elections. A bill was also introduced to senate in which student initiated budget proposals were introduced.

During the announcements, Senator Timbre Shriver came forward to speak about her observations while in senate. She said she had seen a pattern of senators taking things personally and wanted to bring up the fact that ASCSU is about improving campus.

“I think we have incredible impact on campus. Moving forward, I think senate has this incredible potential,” Shriver said.

Collegian ASCSU Beat Reporter Stephanie Mason can be reached at news@collegian.com.