FLORA THEDEN
News Assistant
During Wednesday night’s meeting, Student Government Association approved a resolution to move $10,000 in the Senate Stipend Fund to the SGA General Fund.
The Stipend Fund was initially created to provide $100 to be rewarded to senators at the end of each semester.
However, due to a shortage of money for student events, the senators voted unanimously to use the money for other projects.
With barely over $100 left for the senior class this semester, senators have been forced to pay close attention to their budget and to rethink the Senior Ball.
After last semester, when senior senators saved every penny of their budget, they expected the $415 to roll over to their spring semester funds. However, when that money went to the General Fund, the senators spent money that they didn’t have for senior sweatshirts.
“The senior class is in crisis right now,” said the newly appointed senior senator, Rachel Onojafe. “This money belongs to the students.”
Also at the meeting, it was announced that senior Off-Campus Senator Mike Masten has spearheaded the creation of a week-long event that will take place in March. The project is called the 429 Campaign after Ephesians 4:29, which warns against “foul talk” and “harmful words.”
The focus of the campaign is to have an awareness week against gossip at Pepperdine.
A resolution was passed to change the date of the 429 Campaign from Feb. 11 to the beginning of March. SGA chose to move the date of the 429 Campaign because it does not want the campaign to be associated with their campaign against Juicycampus.com.
“It isn’t about Juicy Campus, it’s about the lack of love and respect in our community,” Masten said.
SGA representatives agreed to disassociate this event from the issue of Juicycampus.com so that the Web site would be more likely to blow over, instead of becoming more popular.
“Juicy Campus is just one form of gossip,” Masten said. “This campaign is as much about Juicy Campus as it is about Facebook.”
SGA President Andy Canales appeared skeptical about the new project.
“People who will respond to this campaign are people who already feel this way,” Canales said. “We can’t win against the people who hide behind their computers.
During the campaign, students will be asked to “pledge 4:29” and to help stop hateful language in our community.
Juicycampus.com was also mentioned in the meeting when Canales read three different e-mails regarding SGA’s decision to ban the Web site.
Two of the e-mails were against their decision, calling it “unethical and un-American,” The other praised SGA representatives for being courageous representatives of the Pepperdine community.
Several other resolutions were approved during this week’s meeting.
A resolution for funding for SGA’s Super Tuesday party was approved. The event will take place Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. in the HAWC and will offer a chance for students to get together to view the results of the California primary election while eating pizza and snacks provided by SGA. The event was created to help encourage political activism and political discussion on campus.
Also, a resolution was approved that orders Payson Library to possess copies of all university-required textbooks. Because purchasing all required textbooks could pose a financial problem, SGA members suggested a book drive at the end of the semester.
Freshmen senators announced that they are following up on their November resolution to investigate changing dorm visitation to include 24-hour lobbies. They have gathered research and plan to discuss changes with the administration this month so that if their resolution is passed, it will be printed in the student handbook for the fall 2008 semester.
Candice Jones, Pepperdine’s Wavenet Portal Director, made an appearance to discuss the upcoming software upgrades.
SGA Vice President Clint Harp invited Jones to speak after he discovered that 75 percent of the Seaver population logs on to Wavenet each day.
He encouraged her to explain to the representatives how they can have a more active role in the new server, Peoplesoft, which is planned to launch Feb. 27.
Jones encouraged SGA to take an active role in the new software and offered SGA members a “sneak peak.” But she assured students that the new program will offer the same amenities as Wavenet.
“Everything you can do today, you’ll be able to do tomorrow,” Jones said.
Jones also got the students excited for a new “wish list” component to improve the process of course selection and wireless in the dorms next semester.
01-31-2008
