Tuesday, Feb. 25, the Student Government Association Senate held its biweekly meeting. This week, several initiatives, potential bills and other updates were discussed, including talks of campus infrastructure improvements, changes to some Volunteer Core courses and more sustainable campus practices.
Safety improvements to come to Lake Avenue and Melrose Place
Last week, members of the Senate’s Access and Engagement Committee visited a Knoxville City Council meeting to discuss safety concerns at the intersection of Lake Avenue and Melrose Place, which is situated right in front of the Tyson House.
This led to getting in touch with the city’s engineering office, which is now planning to make safety improvements at the location. Sen. Jordan Sloan spoke to the planned changes.
“They are going to make new implementations of sidewalk cuts, crosswalks and new lighting at the intersection because we went to the meeting,” Sloan said.
The dates of these planned improvements are not clear.
New UT sustainability initiative
Student Body President Dante Grayson updated the Senate on a sustainability initiative that the university has been working on. The initiative is to replace the confetti currently used at graduation ceremonies, which is not sustainable, with a more biodegradable version of confetti. Grayson updated the body on what the SGA will be doing in this effort for sustainability.
“We’re going to have each senior graduate sustainable,” Grayson said. “What that means is the SGA is going to take on the initiative of supplying a thousand units of biodegradable confetti. We’re hopeful this will start a tradition on our campus.”
Grayson explained that beyond the environmental benefits, this would save the university money, as it costs UT nearly $4,000 every time confetti pops off for graduation photos due to the damage it causes to stormwater drains.
First readings: Online Vol Core Bill and the Gameday Cup Bill
S. Bill 24-10, the Online Vol Core Bill, sponsored by Sen. Caroline Greenholtz, aims to make it easier for students to complete their Vol Core classes and to ease overcrowding in some buildings. Greenholtz discussed her intentions with the bill.
“We’re running into an infrastructure problem where we don’t have enough classrooms to accommodate these students,” Greenholtz said. “What this bill is getting at is I want to create an online asynchronous class for every Vol Core class.”
Greenholtz elaborated that the registrar would have some discretion on not creating online Vol Core classes for certain small, higher-level courses. Bill 24-10 is still being reviewed and will have to be reread in the Senate before being able to be voted on.
S. Bill 24-11, the Gameday Cup Bill, is sponsored by Sens. Don Darcangelo, Helen Alexander, Thomas Ernstberger, Laura Gilliard, Margaret Gourley and Andrew Hogan.
The bill aims to replace the nonrecyclable souvenir gameday cups sold at UT sporting events with recyclable cups. The senators said that because of the number of cups sold, this single action would be meaningful in the name of sustainability. S. Bill 24-11 is still being discussed and cannot be voted on until after a secondary reading.
Second readings: The CPR Bill and the Restoration of the Torch Seal Act
Sen. Campbell Bulter presented the CPR Bill, S. Bill 24-8, for the second time. As it currently stands, dorm resident assistants may risk termination if they ever perform CPR on a resident in the event of an emergency. S. Bill 24-8 would reverse that policy, allowing properly trained RAs to perform CPR in an emergency.
S. Bill 24-8 passed unanimously. This does not mean a policy change has occurred directly from the university.
Sens. Kevin Ho and Nathan Shroeder presented their bill for the second time. The Restoration of the Torch Seal Act, S. Bill 24-9, will mandate fixing a crack in the seal on the Ped Walkway right outside of the Haslam College of Business.
According to the sponsors, this project will likely be completed this summer. Funding is currently being discussed between the SGA and university administration, and a donor may step up and pay for the restoration.
