61st Session comes to a close

Student Senate passed a bill on Monday approving a Green Fund allocation to the Tree Campus USA program that UW-Eau Claire was recently approved for.

The $13,500 allocation will be given to the grounds department to uphold Tree Campus requirements, Senator Austin Gulbrandson said.

Gulbrandson said there were five standards that Eau Claire had to meet before it was approved. Those standards are the creation of a tree advisory committee, a tree care plan, Arbor day observance, the implementation of a service learning project and a tree campus program with allotted annual expenditures.

It was the last of those five standards the bill targeted, Gulbrandson said.

Senator Angel Ramirez spoke in favor of the bill, saying its passage would be a service to the Eau Claire campus.

“I think this is an incredible honor for us to even have this opportunity to be part of Tree Campus USA,” Ramirez said.

Hillary Smith also supported the bill, arguing it was an appropriate use of Green Fund money.

“I think it aligns really nicely with previous initiatives that we passed and future goals that we plan to pursue on this campus to keep it sustainable,” Smith said.

The bill passed in a placard vote.

Welcoming the 62nd Session

Senators for the 62nd Session were sworn in following the dismissal of the 61st Session on Monday evening.

The 19 off-campus senators are as follows:

• Rashawn Williams
• Angel Ramirez
• Wilyam Wright
• Hillary Smith
• Emily Koch
• Gary Butcher II
• Dier Pulatov
• Alexandra Kurutz
• Austin Northagen
• Bailey Roche
• Hannah Jacobson
• Paige Sprink
• Sydney Williams
• Alex Webber
• David Miller
• Mackenzie Mevis
• Thomas Rocque
• Anna Ziebell
• Montana Piper-Thomas

The 11 on-campus senators are as follows:

• Rachel Adams
• Raja Salvarajan
• Lauren Becker
• Carter Rush
• Joseph Murphy
• Matthew Conte
• Christy Miller
• Justin Vue
• Alyssa Pake

First Legislation of 62nd Session

For the first legislation of the new Senate, the session passed a resolution in recognition of Dr. Beth Hellwig’s service to the finance commission and the Eau Claire campus.

Hellwig, the vice chancellor for student affairs, is retiring this summer.

“We really wanted to — with this resolution — show our appreciation of all of her work and service she’s done for not only finance commission, but for the university,” said Dier Pulatov, the finance director.

After numerous senators spoke of Hellwig’s various contributions to student government and campus life, Senate passed the resolution in a voice vote.

Other news:

• The Communications Commission introduced a bill to amend its bylaws. The bill will be voted on next week.