NEWS

On Aug. 25, the Student Senate voted unanimously to kill three bills that would have asked students their opinions on gay rights, lowering parking citations and improving course registration.

The Senate originally passed the bills on Aug. 5. Student Body President Ayden Maher vetoed two and passed one, before Vice President of Student Affairs Charles Brown vetoed the third, sending it back to the Senate. In response, the Senate tabled the bills indefinitely–so they won’t be discussed in the future. 

The Senate votes on legislation that governs all FAU campuses. If approved, students could have voted “yes” or “no” on the following questions during the upcoming election on Sept. 13 and 14:

“Do you support changing FAU’s policy on Anti-Discrimination and Harassment to include sexual orientation as a protected class along with race, religion and gender?”

“Do you support the lowering of parking citation fines?”

“Do you support a warning system for parking citations in which a first violation would be cited without any fee charge?”

“Do you support the technology fee being used to improve servers for class registration?”

Associate Dean of Students Terry Mena told senators that Brown “did not veto the bills. He sent them back for reconsideration because, while he agrees with the bills, he thinks you guys should do your homework. Come back with better legislation on the traffic and parking plan. Find out what other colleges are doing. Research what states do about parking issues and get creative with a solution for FAU.”

Student Body Vice President Robert Huffman told the UP that administrators were working on improving class registration and adding sexual harassment to FAU’s anti-discrimination policy. He added that the Senate planned on introducing new legislation that would ask the last two questions about parking fines. 

Senate members said stronger legislation can be written by the spring semester.

Student Government Advisor Heather Bishara told senators that “politics can be frustrating at times … but we should be optimistic going forward.”