Student senator suggests creating safer Unofficial to take place in ‘Frat Park’

By Michael Logli

The Illinois Student Senate discussed a suggestion offered by graduate senator Dan Nugent about how to treat Unofficial in the future. Nugent suggested that the city of Champaign create a “beerfest” by working with local bar owners and the University.

The event would take place on a Saturday and involve closing down all bars on campus and confining the event to one area, such as ‘Frat Park.’ A tent would be assembled and bars could sell alcohol there while hosting other non-alcoholic events, Nugent said.

“By doing this you transform it into a safe environment,” he said.

The senate also addressed attendance issues pertaining to senate meetings or attending office hours. Of the more than 50 senators in the senate, 23 are currently delinquent, said James Win, senate clerk, meaning that their vote does not count.

“We’ve been having issues with attendance, please attend your meetings for the rest of the year,” said Katie Dunne, junior in LAS and vice president internal.

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To fix this problem, Jason Webber, vice president external and graduate senator, said the senate is removing senators from the delinquency list if they attend U of I Day, a lobbying event in Springfield, Ill., that will take place Wednesday.

“It gets you off the delinquency list and it’s a great way to get senators to support this,” Webber said.