Over the weekend, the Illinois Student Senate headed to Minnesota to attend the Association of Big 10 Students conference, where several resolutions were passed that collectively hold the support of more than 500,000 students. 

Justin Ostrowski, senator and senior in LAS, Mitch Dickey, senator and sophomore in LAS, Jenny Baldwin, vice president-internal, Student Body President Damani Bolden, Anna Toohill and Matt Hill, sophomores in LAS, represented the Illinois Student Senate at the conference. 

Eight resolutions were passed and two were submitted from the University. Support for the Affordable College Textbook Act, which hopes to make education more accessible, was passed.

The senate submitted a resolution similar to the work Tony Fiorentino, senator and graduate student, has been working on in regards to student debt awareness. The resolution was passed unanimously and calls to restore bankruptcy protection for student loans.

The University of Minnesota submitted a resolution to support the exemption of student loan programs from the federal preferred lender requirements. 

All schools voted to bring tuition equality for undocumented youths within Big Ten institutions. 

Ostrowski’s resolution for support toward trans* students was passed, and Bolden said he has already received emails from student senators from the University of Minnesota saying “it has done wonders for our community.” 

Senator Matt Hill was elected as an ABTS campus coordinator, which will take the pressure off Bolden to plan conferences and communications with other student governments within the Big Ten. 

Hill plans to explore Open Education Resources during the spring semester. This consists of bringing more free online textbooks and online classes to the University. 

The iRent program will redistribute i

Senator Zach Bass, junior in Business, is looking for nominations for the Teaching Excellence Awards, which will be presented on April 6.

Megan can be reached at [email protected].