“*Everyone will have plenty of time to get their message out.*”
- IEC Commissioner Dan Bahr, on student election campaigning. Campaigning begins April 9.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student Association (SA) Senate appointed two new senators and failed to override a key Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) bylaw revision at Sunday’s meeting in the Union Ballroom.

SA President Rob Grover previously vetoed legislation that would have removed funding request restrictions for student organizations. SAC bylaws currently state that student orgs receive a maximum of four funding requests to the committee per semester. The limit was instituted to cut down on the number of requests and help encourage groups to organize their requests and funding needs.

Groups have instead been urged to focus their efforts on the large-grant meetings, and utilize the small-grant meetings more for emergency purposes.

However, some senators believe that the bylaws need some flexibility to accommodate student organizations.

“Different student organizations have different needs,” said Sen. Jeff Guse, adding that the senate needs positive relations with orgs and an override would help foster that relationship.

However, the override required a two-thirds majority and fell short in a senate vote.

In other announcements, two senate vacancies were filled, with Travis Romero-Boeck taking an at-large seat, and Joseph Kolbach filling an engineering school opening.

Independent Election Commissioner Dan Bahr commented briefly on the upcoming student elections, reiterating that campaigning for various races does not begin until April 9. Bahr warned all parties that any campaigning will result in point assessments, and noted that candidates must be responsible for their surrogates as well.

“Everyone will have plenty of time to get their message out,” said Bahr

A representative for the university announced that a short survey will be sent to students in the next few weeks via e-mail regarding who the school should attempt to attract for Pantherfest 2008, which is slated for Sept. 5. O.A.R. and Talib Kweli headlined the event last year.

Additionally, Tyler Draheim, Senate Speaker and President of SAC, implored student organizations to submit their large-grant funding requests ahead of the upcoming April 4 deadline. The large-grant meeting will take place on April 19 and 20.

The SA will also be sponsoring a block party on April 19, and will be closing off a section of Hartford Avenue for the festivities. Details are still a bit vague, but preliminary plans include a chili cook-off, eating contest, and “junk exchange” where students can bring in unwanted items and trade them in for what other people cast aside.

Lastly, the senate passed an SA constitutional revision regarding the number of justices serving on the student court. Speaker Draheim proposed an amendment that would reduce the number of serving judges from 7 to 5, citing fiscal responsibility and a lack of work for so many justices.

“Seven is far too many for the caseload that they handle,” said Draheim.

The matter will go to a full student body vote by the end of the year.

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