The Associated Student Body held its last and longest formal senate of the 2022-2023 academic year Tuesday night, March 21. They failed one resolution and passed two bills and three resolutions.
SR 23-6
Senate Resolution 23-6 failed after a lengthy debate. The resolution proposed that the ASB publicly condemn the recent passing of MS House Bill 1125, which bans gender affirming care to minors. If SR 23-6 had passed, ASB would have put out a statement publicly condemning the house bill.
Some senators debated against the resolution, citing apprehensions that HB 1125 does not affect the ASB directly. Others said that ASB should not publicly condemn heavily politically charged bills.
There was a motion to withhold the names of the voters, so whether or not a senator voted “yes” or “no” would be kept private. This motion passed, and the senators voted by voice acclamation, but their names were kept off the record. The numerical results of the vote are public.
In the first vote, the number of abstained outweighed the “yes” and “no” votes combined, causing the senators to vote a second time. In the second vote, the resolution failed in a vote of 13-15-1 with one abstaining.
SB 23-4
Senate Bill 23-4 adds structure to the legislative aide role by amending language in ASB code. For example, it raises the number of weekly meetings for legislative aides to three per week. It also defines a term project that each aide completes during their term.
Before bills and resolutions were presented, President Lila Osman expressed concerns about the bill through an official statement read by executive liaison Will Griffith. The statement proclaimed the Department of Justice’s opposition to SB 23-4, citing concerns that the proposed changes “do not provide meaningful structure and create restriction rather than constriction.”
During an almost hour-long debate session, many senators echoed Osman’s concerns, stating that the new changes were too rigorous for legislative aides, who are freshman with often busy schedules.
An amendment was presented and passed that changed the language from “three weekly meetings” to “three regular meetings”.
Despite the concerns expressed, the bill passed with the new amendment with 21 “yes” votes and eight “no” votes.
SB 23-5
Senate Bill 23-5 passed unanimously. The bill raises the salaries of the executive staff and creates a salary for the president pro tempore and the president’s chief of staff. The changes will raise the salaries to match those of other SEC student government executive staff salaries.
The salary of the president is raised from $300 a month to $500 a month. The vice president’s salary is raised from $275 to $400 a month. The salaries of the secretary, the treasurer, the chair of the judicial council and the attorney general are raised from $250 to $300. The president’s chief of staff will now receive a salary of $100 a month and the president pro tempore will now receive a salary of $150.
The new salaries will not go into effect until the new executive officers are sworn in.
SR 23-4
Senate Resolution 23-4 urges the university to create a substance use prevention program. Sen. Taylor Kelly presented the resolution with a personal story of growing up surrounded by substance abuse.
“As someone who did grow up in a turbulent home with lots of alcohol abuse, I had known firsthand how little this campus has to offer students who feel like they need extra support,” Kelly said. “I tell you this, not to gain sympathy, but to show you that even people in this body have to deal with the mental ramifications of what others do around them.”
Kelly said she wants students struggling with substance abuse to know that they have people in their corner on this campus. According to Kelly, students have expressed a need for this program in the past.
“We simply do not have a plan or program on how to best support these students. This is not okay,” Kelly said. “We need to do better as a community to support these students who are brave enough to admit they have a past.”
Kelly said that Chancellor Boyce and the William McGee Center have voiced their support for this program.
The resolution passed unanimously.
SR 23-5
Senate Resolution 23-5 urges the university to include campus tutoring information in course syllabi.
While presenting the bill, Sen. Lorne Turner said that he has found a lot of students do not know about additional tutoring resources. Adding these resources would be helpful considering the main line of communication from professor to student is through course syllabi.
“I think this is a great step in improving accessibility to this resource and setting the stage for all students to thrive academically on this campus,” Turner said.
The resolution passed unanimously without debate.
SR 23-7
Senate Resolution 23-7 urges the university to publicly recognize national heritage and minority months.
Sen. Savannah Avery said this resolution stems from a lock of public support for these months on Ole Miss’ social media.
“I personally feel that this resolution is important because it encourages more inclusive action on our campus and contributes to dismissing some of the stigmas that kind of surround the idea of cohesiveness of communities here at the university.”
The resolution passed unanimously without debate.
