The Undergraduate Senate referred a smoking ban bill and an elections reform bill back to committees and passed a bill on senator absences at its meeting Sunday afternoon.
The smoking bill, called "A Bill to Protect the Health of the AU Community," would call on the university to amend the AU Student Handbook to include a ban on smoking within 25 feet of the entrances and exits to all buildings and residences on campus. It would also prohibit smoking from all on-campus shuttle stops. The bill would include a "courtesy clause" that would be advertised across campus encouraging student smokers to be considerate of non-smokers, said Nick Troiano, a class of 2011 senator and Eagle photographer and podcaster who wrote the bill.
After a lengthy debate, the senate voted to refer the bill to a joint committee of the Committee on Students' Rights and the Committee on Campus Life.
Student Government President Joe Vidulich threatened to veto the bill if the senate passed it. He said he would not support or sign a bill that fines or possibly places students under the jurisdiction of Judicial Affairs and Mediation Services.
"I think it's utterly ridiculous," Vidulich said. "The Senate is treating the people they represent as children, and that's not what they are."
More than 70 percent of the 409 students who participated in a senate-sponsored smoking survey last semester said they would support the "courtesy clause" campaign, Vidulich said.
Only 15.4 percent of those surveyed at AU were smokers, according to the previous survey. However, smokers make up an average of 28.5 percent of students on college campuses, according to a survey by the American Cancer Society.
Troiano said he would support another survey conducted by the SG in which they would interact more personally and converse with the students to find out "what the average student thinks."
The Undergraduate Senate referred "A Bill to Ensure the Credibility of Election Results" back to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
The bill, written and presented by Julie Mills, class of 2010 senator, would make the Undergraduate Senate responsible for overseeing the Board of Elections, which currently has no oversight.
The SG also passed "A Bill to Reform the Practice of Proxies in the Senate" with a vote of 18-1-0. The bill decreases the number of senators' allotted absences from five to four and stipulates that a proxy, or a student from the senator's constituency, can cover only two of the senator's absences. Also, within committee meetings, a proxy can be either a student from the senator's constituency or a fellow senator, according to Mills.
The next Undergraduate Senate meeting will take place on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in Kogod 118.
