A debate was sparked when senators suggested changing the name of the Reitz Union North Lawn to “Global Garden” at Tuesday night’s UF Student Senate meeting.
The resolution would encourage UF to consider renaming the North Lawn, but it would not change the name of the lawn yet.
Sen. Jason Richards (District C, Impact) spoke on behalf of the bill’s author, Sen. Uttam Gaulee.
Sen. Dwayne Fletcher (Springs, Access) proposed waiting to discuss the bill until the author was present, but this was voted down.
“His idea is not only for this to be a symbol but get artifacts from different nations,” Richards said.
The idea is to reach out to global embassies to get artifacts donated, Richards said.
Some senators asked Richards how artifacts would be protected and where they would be displayed on the North Lawn.
Although Richards did not have the answers to these questions, he encouraged senators to pass the resolution to show the university that the Senate supports it.
Minority Party leader Michael Christ (Graduate, Access) agreed.
“It sounds really amazing,” he said. “It sounds better than the North Lawn.”
Another hot topic was whether Infinity Hall should have its own district senator.
Christ opposed the Fall 2016 Reapportionment, which would include Infinity Hall in District A’s representation.
Because Infinity has an on-campus zip code, it should have on-campus representation in the Senate, Christ said
Sen. Charlie Brown Jr. (Agriculture, Swamp) supported having Infinity represented in District A.
Both resolutions passed after debate.
Contact Caitlin Ostroff at costroff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @ceostroff
