Senate approves grant for Independent Scribe

11/20/08 - The University of Rhode Island Student Senate voted unanimously last night to fund the second issue of the Independent Scribe. The Independent Scribe is a student literary journal compiled by a student organization of the same name. The organization screens submissions from the student community, publishes them in book form and distributes copies on campus free of charge.

Senior and treasurer Erin Philbrick, spoke at the meeting of the group.

Philbrick thanked the senate for supporting the group and asked that they grant it money to allow it to continue its efforts.

Senator Allen Petit, who sponsored the bill as chairman of the finance committee, recommended that his fellow senators vote for the bill.

"They had a really successful publication last spring they were able to do it through fundraising," Petit said. "But now that they're recognized with us they have to come to us for money."

The fine arts department financed the group's first publication, as they had not yet been officially recognized.

The money from the senate comes in the form of a contingency grant in the amount of $5,265.81.

The funds will go to cover the cost of printing 1,000 copies of the journal, which Philbrick said after the meeting should be distributed on campus sometime within the second or third week of December.

This second issue of the publication will contain about 120 pages of written works, including poetry, short stories, critical essays, and 30 pages of student artwork.

The artwork is a feature new to this second issue of the Scribe, and will include photographic art and sculpture, Philbrick added.

She said the second issue will be bigger and better than the first.

"It's going to be twice as big as the last issue," Philbrick said. "Content wise, I think that we had an even more competitive base for our submissions this time, and the work that we received really was exemplary."

The organization itself has also improved, as members gain experience with the logistics of publication.

"Last time it was a lot of running ... but this time it went a lot more smoothly just in terms of us knowing the business," Philbrick said.

The group hopes to expand the scope of its publication, moving from mainly creative work to incorporating academic articles.

"That's our main goal, to make sure we stress interdisciplinary [work] in every edition," Philbrick said.

The senate recently voted to bump the Scribe from a Level III to a Level II student organization, meaning that the group is eligible to receive an annual budget from the senate. However, Philbrick said the group's budget would not be approved until next fall, leaving them to rely on grant requests until then.

The group will be holding a debut event for the issue Dec. 9 in Hoffman Hall, with contributors reading from their work.

In other news:

The senate voted unanimously to approve a bill stating the senate's opposition to plans shortening the add period for classes from the current two weeks. The language of the bill states that any shortening of the period would not give students enough time to "situate" their schedules.

Andrew O'Brien, chairman of the external affairs committee, updated the senate on recent changes to the laws in Narragansett allowing for harsher penalties for underage possession of alcohol, increased penalties for violators of the social host law and broader police powers. The owner of a house can face fines and jail time for any underage drinking going on in the house. Under the Social Host Law, a parent or guardian cannot be punished for allowing consumption of alcohol by his or her child in the family home. Police also now have the right to stop anyone anywhere for a chemical breath test, which could lead to charges for "internal possession."

President Tom Ahrens asked senators to help get the word out about the mid-year tuition increase, and to encourage students to write to their state representatives in protest of the hike.