Student Senate drops Residential Life proposal

Several ideas proposed by Residential Life, formally Residential Housing, were dropped, thanks in part to a bill authored by Southern’s student senate.
In a meeting on last Wednesday, members met in the Henton Room of the Smith-Brown Memorial Union to discuss the scrapped plans.
“We told them that we didn’t want community learning, that people wouldn’t want to house with people in the same major—so we’re not going to have community learning,” said Senate President Stasha Rhodes.
In a Residential Life update on November 6, the department proposed a ‘new Jaguar Living and Learning Community’ to begin what it called ‘Phase 1′ for Spring 2009, but would take place the following academic semester. Students who were planning to live in residential halls (dormitories, according to the update, no longer exist) would live in designated areas that would represent each academic major. Students with the same major would room together, with undeclared major students ‘scattered’ among them to ‘assist them with declaring a major in the future.’
The update included the status of both Bradford and Boley Halls—unsure, and to reopen spring 2009, respectively—and a number of staff changes, among them, resident and desk assistants.
“The Senate and Residential Housing have come together and managed to cancel it,” said Rhodes.
She said Residential life was appreciative of what they called the “right” way to approach administration, and agreed with the senate, commending the students and their senate.
“The senate’s still working on fighting for the meal plan,” said Rhodes, who admitted that the final say would have to come from Chancellor Lomotey and the Southern System. Students living in the apartment-style dorms are largely opposed to purchasing a meal plan.
Senate Bill 21, an appropriation bill to help Southern’s chapter of the Black Executive Exchange Program fund it’s conference was passed favorably for the club.
The only piece of new business to before the senate body was a constitutional amendment by sophomore legislator Langston Williams, who proposed a new tier for Miss Southern and class queens, moving the former to tier 3 with the SGA vice-president and Chief Justice, while refraining hopefuls from changing the positions they’re vying for—but only if it’s on an upper-tier.
The proposed bill was not officially on the floor for a vote, as it had not left its committee.
Many senators questioned the validity of the bill, as a particular queen is named several times, leading many to ask if the bill was written as a “personal vendetta” or an attack.