The Student Senate meeting began at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 3. 

During the Board of Directors reports, Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) Director Brenna Strojinc said 98 student responses have been collected thus far for the Senate General Open Forum. 

The survey was shared to all UW-Eau Claire students through their email and is open until the end of the day on March 5. The survey is a chance for students to express concerns on any areas of campus they want to see change or things they like and want to see more of on campus. 

Student Organization Commission (SOC) Director Tia Beirne reported that SOC has wrapped up hearing from all student organizations requesting funds. They met to allocate the funds to each organization. The final allocations will be approved at the SOC meeting this Thursday, March 6. 

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“We had such a great turnout this year which was super amazing,” Beirne said. “It is super cool to hear from different student organizations and what they are planning to do with their money.”

Housing Coordinator Evan Frawley reported that he sent out the Spring Community Walkthrough RSVP form to UW-Eau Claire students emails. Students can register through March 21.

“The walkthrough serves as an opportunity for students to assess off-campus infrastructure and advocate for better living conditions,” Frawley said.

In new business, three new pieces of legislation were introduced to the senate body. 

The first, 68-B-8, titled Three New Organized Activities Fiscal Year 2026 Allocations. Senator Isabelle Shepard presented the bill.

At the Nov. 11 senate meeting, the Finance Commission introduced its allocation recommendations for the fiscal year 2026. The following meeting, the senate adopted the Organized Activity Budget recommendation in 68-B-4 in a vote of 30-0-2.

The budget allocated $53,000 to the Equity in Student Matters Commission (ESM) to distribute to the departments funded under ESM, including Multicultural Student Services (MSS), Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) and Centering Native Voices.

It was later determined that grouping the money was inefficient, and ESM has now been reabsorbed by senate. On Dec. 2, senate adopted the creation of three new organized activities named MSS Student Programming, SSD Student Programming and Centering Native Voices in 68-B-6 in a vote of 28-0-2.

If it is adopted, 68-B-8 would allocate $18,250 to MSS Student Programming, $16,500 to SSD Student Programming and $18,250 to Centering Native Voices in place of allocating $53,000 to ESM.

“We heard presentations from each of the new organized activities and then looked at our policy when making these decisions,” Shepard said.

Bill 68-B-8 will be reintroduced and voted on at the next meeting.

Bill 68-B-9, titled Addition to Bylaws of Chapter IV, Section 16, Part 6, was then introduced by Finance Commission Director Cole Morehouse. 

The bill is an extension of 68-R-9, which supported the creation and addition of the Campus Harvest Food Pantry Committee within senate and passed in a vote of 32-0-2. Since the passing, two things have been added to the committee outline.

“Changes have been made that the committee is now dually chaired by the finance director and food pantry director instead of just the food pantry director,” Morehouse said. “Second, a number of the university’s centers will sit on the committee as a voting member.”

Bill 68-B-9 will be reintroduced with more updates and voted on at the next meeting.

Bill 68-B-10, titled Approval of the Student Technology Fee Budget for Fiscal Year 2026, was introduced by Information Technology (IT) Commission Director Kyler Simonet. 

Chief Information Officer Kent Gerberich makes up the budget each year and brings it to the IT commission to review and approve it and later send it to the senate for final approval. 

The fees go toward things like IT staff and student employee wages, technology updates in the library and upkeep of technology equipment available for checkout.

“The budget is made up of the (segregated) fee that all students pay, so it’s important to keep the students of UWEC in mind when we look at things like this,” Simonet said.

Bill 68-B-10 will be reintroduced with more updates and voted on at the next meeting.

The senate adjourned at 6:49 p.m. and will reconvene at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 10 in the Dakota Ballroom.

Braun can be reached at braunee6220@uwec.edu.