USC's student senate passed 13 pieces of legislation and failed to pass two others at the last weekly Wednesday meeting of the 115th student senate.
Four resolutions recognized Student Body Treasurer Hannah Augsbach- Lamma, Speaker of the Student Senate Cameron Eubanks, Student Body Vice President Abrianna Reaves and Student Body President Emmie Thompson for their contributions to Student Government.
Resolution for Reaves and Thompson passed by acclamation.
But one senator, Tyler Morgan, objected to the resolutions that recognized Augsbach-Lamma and Eubanks, saying that Augsbach-Lamma, did not follow through with her role as treasurer and that Eubanks treated senators "childishly."
Many senate members, including Sen. Mia LaPinta, voiced their support for the bill. LaPinta expressed gratitude towards Speaker Eubanks, saying he served as an exemplary leader, who provided guidance and made her feel valued despite the intimidating environment of the senate
After several senators spoke on both resolutions, they each passed by a vote of 33-3.
SBL11569 is a recommendation to include comprehensive details about the immunization penalty on the Self-Service Carolina and Gamecock Gateway checklist.
Sen. Anitta John, who introduced the legislation alongside Sen. Aidan Gruner, said the legislation is about adding more detailed information to websites such as Self Service Carolina and Gamecock Gateway. This would help students have clearer information regarding information holds, they said.
"As Sen. Gruner mentioned, over 800 students last year got an immunization hold, which prevented them from registering or dropping classes," John said. "We hope for the future that many students will be able to prevent any academic disruption to registering or dropping classes."
The legislation was passed by acclamation.
SBL11570 is a recommendation to implement scholarships uniquely crafted for transfer students to increase their enrollment at USC. Sen. Grant Sellers, who introduced the bill along with Sen. Mara Bean, said is it designed to attract and attain transfer students.
"We really want to have some sort of way to encourage (transfer students) to come to our university and choose us," Sellers said. "Because in fact, we're actually the only SEC school that does not offer some type of transfer student scholarship."
The legislation was passed by acclamation.
Other pieces of legislation discussed the duties of the deputy secretary of sustainability, how to improve University 101 course curriculums, the need to boost vegetarian and vegan selections in Aramark catering packages, establishing concentration tracks in the biochemistry and molecular biology majors, a collaboration with Greek Life organizations to gathering reusable decor and themed clothing for the Gamecock Community Shop, establishing a "Cancer Prevention Week" and increasing the campus activity fee.
All of them passed by acclamation.
SBL11573 is a recommendation to generate and streamline purchasing recommendations for student organization finance requests. Hensley said he was worried that the the bill would do more harm in the long run if organizations are told about practices they won't end up using..
"They are going to be less likely to fill out the information form to actually go through a green certification consultation with the green certification team," Hensley said. "And I'm also just concerned about information overload that may deter organizations from going through the green certification process."
The legislation failed to pass in a 26-10 vote with one abstention.
SBL11577 is a recommendation to uphold an online repository for promotional material from student organizations. Chairwoman Dania Malachi said the student life committee was concerned about how similar it would be to GarnetGate.
"We don't want it to become muddy with having more websites that kind of repeat what we already have, only because some of these students aren't already using what we have," Malachi said.
The legislation failed to pass in a 19-16 vote with one abstention.
The session on Wednesday marked the 115th student senate's last session together. Thompson took time to reflect on the senator's accomplishments.
"All of you guys have impressed me in different ways. You've written tangible legislation that's actually affected the student body, and I can truly say in my four years here that this has been the most effective senate I've seen," Thompson said. "Just wanted to congratulate ya'll and thank ya'll for making this the best job in the world."
The new executive Student Government leaders and senators will be inaugurated on March 20 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Rutledge Chapel.