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[ Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004 ]

USG: Student union must leave office

Collegian Staff Writer

The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate approved an executive order last night telling the Off-Campus Student Union (OCSU) to move out of the USG office by Friday.

The Senate joined in on the demand made by its Academic Assembly counterpart, which approved a similar order Monday night.

OCSU became its own group last year, after splitting from USG. An Oct. 1 deadline was set for OCSU to move out of the USG office, but USG President Galen Foulke pushed the deadline back to Oct. 22.

North Halls Sen. Isaac Bucher co-sponsored last night's executive order, saying that allowing OCSU to remain in the USG office would set a precedent that non-USG groups could use the office space.

"I think that just sets us up for bad news," he said.

But the Oct. 1 deadline will only give OCSU two days to move out, Town Sen. Diana Maxham said.

"I agree they should get out of the office, but two days is unfair," she said.

Senate President Chris Owens said Foulke's pushing back the deadline was an "act of good will" and another 21 days would not make a big difference to USG.

East Halls Sen. Matt Ritsko said he supports OCSU but thinks the group must leave the office by the original deadline.

"They have a good purpose, but they are not affiliated with USG," he said.

The Senate also voted to rescind its Fiscal Responsibility Act, a change to Senate bylaws that requires the body to establish a budget for each fiscal year.

Maxham said she agreed with the purpose of the act, but wanted time to produce a version that included input from the executive branch.

"We have every intention of writing a new [act]," she said. "There are a lot of problems with the current Fiscal Responsibility Act."

The Senate's temporary parliamentarian, Shawn Gordon, said vague wording made the act "wishy-washy" and any bills passed under the amended bylaws without a budget already drawn up would be void.

With the act rescinded, the Senate will continue to spend money and pass bills as usual.

In other news, the Senate voted to support a concert coordinated jointly by WKPS-FM (90.7), The Lion, and the Global AIDS Initiative at Penn State.

WKPS Vice President and Promotions Director Terenia Thomas said she was not asking for money but wanted the Senate's support so the University Park Allocation Committee would take the groups' request for funding more seriously.

She said the concert would cost about $20,000 to hold on campus.

"Since I've been here, I haven't seen enough done for the AIDS Initiative," Thomas said.

 



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