EDITORIAL: DEBATE
The Thresher , as an organization, has been in agreement with the vast majority of the policies, bills and rules that the Student Association Senate has endorsed and proposed this past year. Yes, there have been the "silly" issues like toilet paper, but the Senate always made sure to take each issue seriously and take time to debate the issue in detail.
Unfortunately, the Senate has come under some spell the last couple of weeks. It may be the "lame duck" syndrome, or it may just be a move toward getting out of the meetings earlier. Whatever the case, the Senate has stopped debating the issues. Instead, appropriations fly through without a thought and the finances of the Campanile and Thresher get altered severely without a single comment.
At its last meeting, the Senate approved a change in the Bylaws for the two publications which reinstated the reserve fund under radically different terms. When told that the SA Senate in 1987-88 spent hours debating a simple percentage increase in the reserve fund, the Senate immediately said "move to approve." Not a single question. With the lateness of the 1995 Campanile and the ever-criticized Thresher , it would seem to us that the salary structure of these organizations would be important to the Senate and the student body. Apparently not.
All of the people on this year's Senate are wonderful people and leaders, perhaps the best the SA has had in decades, but in this they have failed. Next year's Senate must make sure to take time to debate all issues and get input, even when it means a longer meeting.
This item appeared in the Opinion section of the March 15, 1996 issue.
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