Two bills that will restructure the executive branch of Student Government unanimously passed their second and final rounds of approval at Tuesday night’s Student Senate meeting.
The Agency Reorganization Act and the Cabinet Reorganization Act were heard the first time at last week’s meeting. Agencies are more autonomous and focus on specific programming, and cabinets deal with programs for groups of students.
The Cabinet Reorganization Act passed unanimously after two amendments. Sen. Daniel Landesberg proposed adding a clause that makes each cabinet secretary responsible for submitting a status report to the Student Body president and the Senate president once a semester.
“It’s a great way to make sure people are doing their job,” Landesberg said after the meeting.
After the meeting, Sen. Carly Wilson said the amendment was a compromise.
She said she wanted reports done once a month.
She also amended the clause to say that the reports are due one week after spring and fall elec tions.
The Senate also amended the bill to add a secretary of satellite affairs. Before the amendment, the bill proposed to have a secretary of family, graduate and satellite affairs.
During public debate, Sen. Ford Dwyer unveiled his fall initiative to change the name of the Reitz Union. The Reitz Union was named after the fifth university president, whose name was linked to an anti-gay purge at UF, Dwyer said.
Dwyer said he is proposing to change the name to the Virgil Hawkins Student Union. He said Hawkins, a black man, was in a decade-long court battle trying to gain admission to the Fredric G. Levin College of Law. He eventually made a deal with the university and withdrew his application for the integration of UF graduate programs.
“I encourage a new name on the union’s new face,” Dwyer said.
The meeting also unanimously passed a bill honoring UF Board of Trustees Chairman Carlos Alfonso for his 11 years of service to UF and a resolution supporting the creation of a crosswalk for Jennings Hall.
Contact Samantha Shavell sshavell@alligator.org.
Senate President Aundre Price expressed his happiness about senators getting involved and being proactive during the last Student Senate meeting of the semester on Tuesday night.
