The Illinois Student Senate, or ISS, will vote Wednesday on a bill supporting a ban on the General Assembly Scholarship Program.

The program came under fire last month with suspicions of unethical practices by the state legislators in choosing scholarship recipients. The program only asks that the recipients live in the legislative district in order to apply for that district’s scholarship. However, as suspect practices have been revealed, criticism has come from many sides, including Gov. Pat Quinn.

Some members of the ISS look to support the ban on the scholarship program. Shana Harrison, student senator and junior in LAS, said this resolution for action will be the most controversial item discussed Wednesday night.

“This is something the state legislature is looking into, and they will most likely end this program, because it’s an unfunded mandate,” she said. “In a way, this negatively impacts the majority of students who have to support those students with tuition dollar increases every year.”

ISS vice president-external Sam Barghi said if the resolution passes, they aim to also influence the University’s stance on the issue.

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, the ISS will elect two senators to be the pilot “community liaisons” for Champaign and Urbana. Student body president David Pileski said these students will attend Champaign and Urbana city council meetings regularly in order to represent the voice of the students.

“These liaisons will be informed about what’s going on on a community level,” Pileski said. “This will be the first step to getting something set up with cities so there’s always student involvement.”

Champaign and Urbana mayors Don Gerard and Laurel Prussing were in attendance at the ISS-sponsored second annual meeting of the student body last week. Harrison said the ISS aims for more communication between the cities and the senate.

“We can start to build the bridge between campus and community,” she said.