ISS passes resolution in support of funding Campus Bike Center
May 8, 2014
The 11th assembly of the Illinois Student Senate held its first meeting on Wed., May 7 where they discussed how to fund the Campus Bicycle Center and who to send to the Association of Big Ten Students Summer Conference.
The senate appointed Matt Hill, sophomore in LAS, to serve as the undergraduate chair in the Urbana-Champaign Senate Executive Committee and Calvin Lear, graduate student, to serve as the graduate chair on the committee.
Hill said he has ideas on ensuring a higher participation on committees and revising the election process. He also discussed his prior experience on various committees, including the committee on education policy.
He values “a shared government of students, faculty and academic professionals who work toward the same goal.”
Lear has served on this committee for the last two years.
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Kevin Seymour, graduate student, was voted in as the at-large chair, which he sees as a “great opportunity in the position to make student voices heard.”
The Campus Bike Center will lose its funding on June 30, which sparked the student senate to pass a resolution calling on University administration to prioritize funding the center.
Grace Kyung, graduate student, said that the proposed $50,000 needed to run the center is not a yearly fund, but money to be allocated for this year to give the Campus Bike Center more time to find a recurring funding sources.
She mentioned there have been census counts of over 5,000 bikes on campus (not including off-campus bikes), showing that there are many students which this issue effects.
“Grace has been here a lot, she’s clearly passionate about this issue,” said senator Ron Lewis, freshman in Business. “I think this is a great way to start our year to help the bike system.”
Lewis, President Mitch Dickey, Vice President-Internal Sarah Hochman and Juan Bernal, graduate student, were appointed as delegates to attend the ABTS Summer Conference held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Hill moved to increase the total cost of the trip to $2,600 to pay for three nights at the hotel and for transportation. With a vote of 16-1 and two abstentions, the resolution passed.
Edward can be reached at [email protected].
