Senate committee to host open forum on 'orange sticker' policy

10/24/07 - With a sparse agenda for its meeting last night, the leading committees of the University of Rhode Island Student Senate took center stage. Senate President Neil Leston said that despite a short meeting with no bills debated, the senate committees are hard at work on several projects.

"Those aren't bills, those are committees doing a hell of a job," Leston said.

Among the projects being worked on, the External Affairs Committee is hosting an open forum on Monday for students, URI faculty, Narragansett Police, community members and others about the "orange sticker" policy. The forum will be held at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union Ballroom.

"It's [hosted] on campus to create a better off-campus," Leston said.

Also during the meeting, the Campus Affairs Committee brought a new parking policy to the attention of the senate. URI Parking Services is no longer referring students to the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal and is instead issuing three warnings to owners of improperly parked cars before the vehicle is towed.

The Cultural Affairs Committee is planning a Holiday Festival for the week before final exams. Leston said that the Executive Committee hopes to expand annual campus events that have been successful in years past. He said the expanded events are aimed at "making this university as fun as it can be while promoting an image that's phenomenal."

Amanda LaRocca, chairwoman of the Student Organization Advisory and Review Committee, said her group is in the process of re-recognizing student organizations. This process happens at the beginning of each school year in which existing student groups must re-apply to be recognized by the Student Senate.

LaRocca said that the groups must submit their paperwork by Nov. 2 and that she hopes to have the re-recognition bill before the senate on Nov. 7. The senate will then vote to re-recognize the groups on the bill. LaRocca said that as of yesterday, 30 of the existing groups were approved to appear on the bill and 30 have not yet completed the paperwork.

New student groups will have to wait to apply for recognition until after the existing groups are re-confirmed.

LaRocca said that due to budgetary constraints, many groups can be recognized but not all of them can receive funding. However, "There are benefits to being recognized by the senate other than funding."

She said that these include free use of the Memorial Union and other buildings booked by the senate, such as Edwards Auditorium and the authority to use the URI name in the name of the group.

LaRocca said different types of groups have different levels of funding eligibility. Level one groups are government groups, such as the Student Senate and media outlets, namely The Good Five Cent Cigar and WRIU. Level two groups are able to demonstrate that their operations could not continue without funding. These groups are often ones that teach a skill and need to pay an instructor.

Level three groups are interest groups such as the College Republicans and Democrats, and level four groups are charity or fund-raising organizations.