Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919.

Student focused legislations take center stage at meeting

MyKenya Thompson / IC

Student Government members vote on resolutions during their Tuesday, Oct. 28 meeting. They also discussed a food bank donation and election day busing legislation.

Colleen Anderson, Staff Reporter

Tension bubbled briefly to the surface as Student Government members discussed a food bank donation and election day busing legislation.

SG senator Benjamin Lynn, the author of the approved food bank resolution, said he became interested after seeing it mentioned on his friend Zach Rasey’s Facebook page.

“I reached out to [Zach], saying hey, I would love to see how it’s going, what’s your status, and if there’s anything you need from me personally, or if there’s anything you need from Student Government-wise,” Lynn said.

After touring the food bank facility, Lynn noticed there were several areas that were in need of renovations.

“I got a chance to walk around the facilities, take some pictures, I realized it’s not the best facilities, it’s in need of a lot of work,” he said. “…they said they were looking for donations to help cover the cost of paint to repaint the facilities and fix the kind of structural problems.”

Lynn said he thinks this resolution sends an important message from SG to the student body.

“I think it’s important because it shows we care about our students,” he said, “especially those we’re representing who are in financial need, who are struggling in terms of feeding themselves….”

The resolution raised concerns from some senators over whether SG would be allowed to donate to the food bank. Since the money for SG’s budget comes from the students’ general fees, the money cannot go to anything that will be given outside of UT. Several senators questioned whether the food bank would qualify for donation under these rules.

SG senator Ronald Tallon felt discussions about the resolution should have been put off until next week.

“I was afraid we were violating rules … I wanted more information before we voted on it, strictly because of that. Not to mention that the legislation was very vague at the end … as [SG President Clay Notestine] mentioned before, we’re not allowed to pay for anything that would be given off UT in any way, shape or form,” Tallon said.

The food bank was not the only hotly-debated topic at the meeting.

A second resolution concerning busing for students on election days, a service that has been offered by the university in the past, was also brought to the floor.

On election days, the on-campus dorms are split into two locations — Hope Lutheran Church and Floral Lawns Memorial Gardens on Nebraska. Of the two, Hope Lutheran Church is significantly closer.

Unlike previous years, the resolution proposes busing to early-voting locations as well.

“This is something that the university has not done before, but was an idea that we have fought with,” Lynn said. “A lot of students do not have the availability or the time to go on Tuesday… we’re looking to have… the weekends, the Sunday before, to hopefully do what we can to try and get busing provided from here to the early vote location, which is located all the way in downtown Toledo.”

Lynn said he thinks the busing is an important step in encouraging student voting.

“[Students] are expecting the university to take care of them, and this is one way the university does it, and they’ve done it in the past,” Lynn said. “It’s important to help everyone have access, so they can exercise one of the fundamental core tendencies of the American democracy.”

Although the resolution passed, some senators voiced several objections, including questioning the relevance of the issue and budgeting issues.

“The busing resolution, in my eyes, is a waste of time,” Tallon said. “It is expensive to charter a bus, because you have to pay for everything, from the bus itself to the driver to the fuel to the insurance, everything. To do something for this when there’s TARTA available, when there is two different times you can go, when there is a lot of availability for it, I don’t see us needing to provide busing.”

Print Friendly

Comments