Senate tables amendment to CIF policy, pushing the vote back a week
(Graphic courtesy of UP Marketing & Communication)
By Sarah Hansell, Staff Writer -- hansell14@up.edu
The resolution to spend the ASUP capital improvement fund (CIF) on a new recreation center has created quite a buzz on campus, generating enough disagreement to bring senators and executive board members to compromise with a revised resolution.
Students have shown strong opinions about the issue, starting two Facebook pages, one in favor of putting ASUP financial support toward a new recreational center and another against using student funds for the center, a key component of the University's $175 million fundraising campaign known as the RISE campaign.
The resolution was tabled at Monday's ASUP meeting, so senators will vote Feb. 21. By a show of hands toward the end of the Feb. 14 meeting, 10 out of 30 senators were against the resolution, and their arguments sparked enough debate to keep the senate in discussion right up to 6:59 p.m., one minute before ASUP meetings end.
The resolution would put the CIF, a fund that goes toward a physical improvement on campus every semester, toward a replacement for Howard Hall for three consecutive fall terms, starting with the 2011 fall term.
The original resolution put the entire CIF toward the new recreational facility until it was completely funded starting this semester. However, many senators and constituents did not want to lose their CIF freedom and the smaller, immediate improvements to campus.
On Feb. 9, the Executive Board and certain members of the Senate reached a compromise, which leaves the spring terms open for the CIF to be used for immediate improvements to campus.
"(With the compromise) we're able to meet these smaller projects, but also help and assist with something that's much bigger than our time on campus," ASUP President Colin Dorwart, a senior, said.
Some senators who were against the old resolution are in favor of the new compromise.
"It's a true compromise," Senator Julia Balistreri, a sophomore who was formerly against the resolution, said. "We're dedicated to Howard Hall, but we're also allowing the students to still have their CIF."
However, not all senators agree. Senator Nicholas Williams, a freshman, says ASUP shouldn't use student funds for something already being funded by the RISE campaign.
"We are going to get the money for this no matter what we do," Williams said in the ASUP meeting last Monday.
Senator Brock Vasconcellos, a sophomore, said although the resolution provides for future students by giving them a new recreational center, it gives current students the short end of the stick.
In response, Senator Kyle Hamm, a sophomore, said not only do future students greatly outweigh current students in numbers alone, but the resolution does benefit current students by giving UP a reputation and allowing them as a student body to be able to say they were part of the RISE campaign.
"This is all part of the grand scheme of things," Hamm said.
Senator Clinton Malson, a freshman, said there were better ways to help the RISE campaign than to donate money.
"Our money could do much more here on campus," Malson said.
Other senators, however, believe it's important to build something for future students.
"It may not affect us, but is it really even about us anymore?" Senator Danielle Bibbs, a junior, said.
ASUP Vice President Katie Scally, a senior, is more excited about the awareness this resolution has created than anything else.
"Above anything else, I'm just glad we've generated such a good discussion on campus," Scally said.
Whether or not it passes, the discussion resolution started has caused the both senators and members of the executive board to see the potential the CIF has.
"It just opens up so many more possibilities to what the CIF can be," Balistreri said.
