Last Thursday, at their weekly meeting, Student Senate approved an important amendment to their constitution that will affect how student organizations receive funding.

The issue of contention was whether or not to add an amendment requiring new organizations to exist with non-funded recognition status for a period of one year before being able to acquire funding. The goal of this amendment is to restrict funded recognition to “well-organized groups,” since an organization that exists for one year without funds and is still thriving is more likely to make good use of their money.

Some senators expressed a desire to focus only on the merit of an organization for its funding, and not the duration of its existence. To this end, another aspect was added to the amendment making it possible for exceptions to be considered. Should an organization seek funding before their year requirement has been met, they can receive it anyway with a two-thirds majority vote from the senate.

After much deliberation about the precise wording and time frame for the amendment, senators ruled out the possibility of using “the past six months” because of the summer months being inactive for most organizations. They voted with a strong majority to set the time frame as “the past one year,” effectively ruling out problems of organizations that may have existed in the past, but have not had a presence on campus in the past year(s) for whatever reason.

In another funding related issue, the Internal Development Committee reported that they would like to make an addition to the bylaws which prohibit funding from going towards political, religious, or academic ends so that charitable events are also included. For instance, an organization may not use funds to help them throw a party whose proceeds go towards a charity.

Other issues unrelated to the funded status recognition amendment included the agreement on an election date for Senate, which will be this April 6 and 7.

The communications committee also decided on a “Food for Thoughts” event on Tuesday, February 24 in Wean Commons from 1-5 p.m. where students can receive some snack food for their feedback on things going on on campus.

The Academic Affairs Committee is considering shifting the library’s hours to later times of day in order to accommodate the study habits of the students. However, they will place questionnaires in the library in order to get student opinion on the matter first.

The Campus Life Committee reported on their ongoing effort to reconcile the contradiction between the no smoking policy which dictates that there is no smoking within 20 feet of an entrance to a building, and the smoking urns and ashtrays right outside the doors of many buildings.