UF’s Student Senate meeting started Tuesday night with 66 senators present but ended with 47.
Debate grew heated when senators argued about when campaigning for Student Government elections should take place and what the rules should be.
The debate was cut short by Sen. Andy Schein.
Several Students Party senators left the room in response.
Right before exiting, Minority Party Leader Max Stein said, “I doubt the presence of quorum.”
Stein said the Senate did not reach quorum under the UF Constitution, which states quorum has to be a majority of the members of the Senate.
However, during the summer, a majority of the active members of the Senate must be present, according to Rules and Procedures.
When these requirements are filled, quorum is established, and bills can go to a vote.
Senate President Aundre Price said there are 86 active members in the Senate, and 44 must be present to vote.
The bill modifying election campaign rules passed unanimously.
After the meeting, Stein said the students were not being represented well.
“I felt the Senate was not acting in the best interest of the students,” he said.
Stein said Students Party leaders will be bringing the issue to the UF Supreme Court.
This was the final vote on the election campaigning revisions, which proposed to redefine campaigning to encompass election-specific material that solicits support for a candidate. Campaigning would start one week before elections and end when the polls close.
The revisions added campaign activities, which intentionally supports a party or candidate but does not solicit votes. Campaign activities would start four weeks before the election and end when the polls close.
Several students went to the meeting to voice their opinions on the bill, but most of them did not talk. Instead they held up signs like Mohamad Shatara’s, which read, “I want to tell you about elections, but Christina Bonarrigo says I can’t.”
Each sign featured a different author of the bill.
Budget and Appropriations Committee chairwoman Christina Bonarrigo, an author of the bill, said the bill is just condensing the campaigning period.
“This bill doesn’t limit free speech, it limits campaigning year-round so Student Government can focus on results,” she said.
The Senators also passed a bill that proposed to change the finance codes. That bill will be heard again in the Senate next week.
Contact Samantha Shavell at sshavell@alligator.org.
