USC's student senate passed four pieces of legislation, including bills recommending improvements to the housing webpage and updates to senator obligations at its weekly meeting on Wednesday.
Additionally, four other pieces of legislation were referred to various committees for further consideration and a new senator was sworn in.
One piece of legislation passed was a recommendation to enhance the University Housing webpages by centralizing and making information more accessible for all students.
Senator William Barnes, who introduced the legislation, said the recommendation to University Housing Services is a result of requests from both the Student Disability Resource Center and the Housing Office.
He has engaged with both departments throughout the semester to seek ways to improve accessibility for students, ensuring that students in need of ADA-compliant rooms can easily access them and enhancing the availability of information on websites and graphics. He said the recommendation is phase one of what he's working on with the Student Disability Resource Center and the Housing Office.
The recommendation includes the creation of an accessibility tab on the university’s housing website for each housing unit. This tab would contain comprehensive ADA-compliance information and support services, simplifying the process for students to find up-to-date resources.
Barnes said when he ran for senate last term, one of the things he wanted to do was work with the Student Disability Resource Center.
Moving into this semester as the Chair of the Student Life Committee, he said he saw an opportunity to bring the Student Disability Resource Center and Housing departments together for collaboration. Even though this does not sound like a usual partnership, the housing website is missing key information, Barnes said.
"One thing that we're going to work towards in the future is having pictures and descriptions of the rooms that are ADA compliant," Barnes said. "I've heard complaints from students where they'll move into a room, not realize it's ADA compliant- and the space is either so much bigger or smaller than what they thought.
The legislation was adopted by a voice vote.
The next piece of passed legislation was a bill to modify the codes regarding inauguration to ensure individuals with elected positions are inaugurated within a specific time frame.
According to the bill, the official inauguration ceremony for new Student Government officers must be held no later than four weeks after the student body elections. If an officer cannot attend the ceremony, they are required to be inaugurated within one week of the official event.
Senator Barnes, who introduced the legislation, said the bill establishes that individuals must be sworn in by a certain date, regardless of if they are a candidate for an executive or senator position.
Failure to meet this timeline will result in the officer forfeiting their elected position.
"The reason that I wrote this is because a similar incident happened at the beginning of this term where a senator came in, wasn't sworn in, really didn't show up to senate committee meetings, things like that," Barnes said. "I kind of thought it was necessary to make sure that if you're elected, you assume office, therefore you're required to maintain those requirements in office."
Speaker of the Student Senate Maura Hamilton said if an individual is elected but is not sworn in, they still hold their position. This would leave the spot empty, even if vacant-seat senators wish to fill it.
"It kind of put us in a hard place because you're not a senator, so you can't be voted on to get removed- but you're also taking a seat and there's nothing (we) can do about it," Barnes said.
The legislation was adopted by a voice vote.
Another piece of passed legislation was a bill to update senator obligations.
Senator Barnes, who introduced the bill, said the bill states that there will be a student senate orientation training once each semester, which will be held at the speaker of the student senate's discretion.
This training will cover topics such as rules and procedures and legislation writing. Additionally, the bill mandates that senators must actively participate in Student Government-wide events.
These events must be approved by the executive board and agreed upon by all four executive officers. A notice will be given to the senate body two weeks before the event. This ensures that senators are fulfilling their responsibilities and collaborating effectively within student government, Barnes said.
"With the once-a-semester student senate training, that's just helping the speaker make sure that all the senators are on the same page, understanding how to write legislation, do motions and anything big going on," Barnes said.
The legislation was adopted by a voice vote.
An additional piece of passed legislation was a recommendation to allow the finance committee to distribute funds to various student organizations.
According to the chairman of the finance committee, William Wenzel, two weeks ago, the finance committee reviewed $16,888.18. All of the money was approved.
Spur-ing Debate was allocated $5,198.10, Collegiate DECA received $3,670.00, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers was given $916.78, Exercise is Medicine received $75.00, and Pi Sigma Epsilon was allocated $175.00. Additionally, Zeta Phi Beta received $2,160.00, Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship was allocated $2,828.00, and The Cocktails received $1,865.30.
Grant Dworzanowski was sworn into the 116th Senate. He represents the Darla Moore School of Business. He joined the Finance Committee, Powers and Responsibilities Committee and Judiciary Committee.
The referred legislation includes a recommendation encouraging the university to prioritize sustainable electronic recycling and better student education on resources, a recommendation to increase details about campus study spaces and amendments to Chapters 4 and 5 of the Student Government codes.
Student senate will hold its next meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 5:30 p.m. in the Russell House Theatre. All students are welcome to attend these meetings.