The Associated Students of Colorado State University addressed seven new bills, one of which discussed returning Speaker of the Senate to an internally-elected position in the Senate as a result of alleged ASCSU constitutional violations during the recent election season.

Senate discusses Speaker of the Senate amendment

Connor Cheadle, senator to the College of Liberal Arts, proposed for ASCSU’s Speaker of the Senate to return to an internally-elected position, meaning elections for the candidate would occur within the Senate.

Cheadle said he believes it’s clear the Senate needs to discuss the nature of the Speaker of the Senate.

Cheadle said that, according to the ASCSU Constitution, the Speaker of the Senate must be presented to the Senate by the elections manager during the first week of campaigning and must be approved for candidacy by a one-third vote, but the clause has not been enforced for the past three years.

“Essentially, what this bill is saying is that either we start doing that, we start following our own rules, our own guidelines, or we change it,” Cheadle said.

When asked by Sen. Ethan Burshek about why his first inclination was to alter the Constitution as opposed to going to the judicial branch, Cheadle said the Senate doesn’t follow rules.

“We have a notoriously bad symptom of not following our rules and ignoring them outright,” Cheadle said. “We have seen this in the election from, from my understanding, all of the campaigns … My point is that we are not following our own freaking rules.”

Cheadle said that, after giving it some thought, he decided that if the rules aren’t being followed then it’s best to make them simple.

The bill was sent to the internal affairs committee after a motion by Vice President-Elect Alexandra Farias.

Senate hears new bills regarding internships, food insecurity, mentoring software, study spaces and more

Six other bills were presented to the Senate. Five of them were sent to other committees and one passed.

The passing bill, the Combined Supplemental Funding Bill, was presented by Chief of Staff Zachary Vaishampayan and asked for the Senate to move money from executive accounts with more than they need to accounts with less than they need.

“We’re moving the money to places where it actually will be able to do good and be spent before the year is over,” Vaishampayan said.

The bill passed with a 37-0-0 vote. 

The Senate also discussed a non-academic student internship experience bill that would encourage CSU students to take advantage of internships by allowing them to apply for a stipend of $4,000 for the summer.

Rick Schleusener, director of academics and author of the bill, said that this would be intended for students with unpaid or underpaid internships.

This bill, requesting $60,000 from ASCSU to fund CSU students in internships, was referred to the Budgetary Affairs Committee.

Another bill discussed dealt with funding for dependable food. Presented by Henry Stowers, director of health, this bill asked for $50,000 to be used for maintaining the Pocket Pantry program on campus.

“As a student body founded on principles of compassion, empathy and community, it is our responsibility to respond to the needs of peers, our faculty and our community,” Stowers said.

This bill was also referred to Budgetary Affairs Committee.

Collin Metscher, senator for the College of Business, presented a bill about mentoring software. This bill proposed software that would allow students of their college to connect with possible mentors during their time at the University.

This bill was ultimately referred to the University Issues Committee.

Metscher also authored a bill asking for $21,000 in order for the College of Business to invest in study booths for Rockwell Hall. This would increase comfortable spaces for students to study.

The Senate referred this bill to the External Affairs Committee.

The final new bill of the night was in regards to lecture capture, the ability for professors to record and upload videos of their lectures for students. This would require $60,000 from the Senate to fill 17 classrooms with this technology. The bill was sent to the Budgetary Affairs Committee.

Charlotte Lang can be reached news@collegian.com or on Twitter @ChartrickWrites.