USC’s student senate passed several pieces of legislation on Sept. 17, including recommendations for USC and Columbia Police to routinely monitor Blossom and Assembly streets and senate representation on the Master Mobility Plan.
The senate passed a recommendation which requests both the USC Police Department and Columbia Police Department routinely monitor Blossom and Assembly streets. The recommendation is sponsored by Speaker Pro Tempore Daniel Violette and Sen. Grayson Sams.
The legislation also recommends the implementation of speed radar signs on the streets.
Violette said the legislation comes in response to speeding and accidents at the intersection of Blossom and Assembly streets.
“The issue is not the people that are going 40 down a 35," Violette said. "The issue is that there is a lot of people that are going 50 and over."
The recommendation also lists times where traffic along Blossom and Assembly streets is most congested. Traffic is most congested around the hours of 8 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Radar speed signs with red and blue lights are recommended as well. Sams said these signs have been shown to scare drivers into slowing down.
“Radar speed signs specifically have been proven to lower speeds by 10 to 20% and actually decrease speeding accidents,” Sams said.
Excused absences
The senate also passed two separate recommendations to consider routine doctor’s appointments and the loss of a pet as excused absences. Both are sponsored by Sen. Iangel Tolaka.
According to the recommendation for doctor's appointments, rescheduling doctor’s appointments can prove challenging for students. Many practices are not open on weekends, which could conflict with schedules, according to the recommendation.
“A lot of students have gone through this where they had an appointment, and they had to reschedule because they had a test or something, and that’s just not feasible if you have to wait months to get medication,” Tolaka said.
To receive an excused absence, students would have to send in requests at least two weeks in advance, according to the recommendation for doctor's appointments.
According to the recommendation for the loss of a pet, losing a pet can leave students unable to perform at their best. Students would have a maximum of two absences of this kind per year, and proper documentation would be required.
USC Master Mobility Plan
A recommendation also passed to give senators input on the USC Master Mobility Plan. It is sponsored by Chairman Matthew Frye and Chairperson Lenyx Coviak.
The USC Master Mobility Plan aims to address parking and transportation issues on campus, according to the recommendation. The plan aligns with the USC Next Master Plan, in which one goal is to “add additional parking and transportation.”
“There’s been a lot of work done to address the parking issues on campus, especially with the large influx of students coming to USC,” Frye said.
Coviak said it is very important for students to have a voice on the project because they traverse campus the most and would be impacted the most by potential changes.
“They’re the ones knowing what’s actually a problem, what’s not and sometimes finding workarounds that perhaps official departments may not always know about,” Coviak said.
The senate passed a recommendation to employ the assistance of Michael Goodman, a higher education and student affairs educator at UT Austin, and form a select committee to revise the Student Government codes. It is sponsored by the Rules Committee.
Goodman's expertise is in student governance, and his research involves college student government, the student body presidency and sorority/fraternity life.
Goodman works with student governments and helps them with their codes, Chairwoman Kiki D'Apolito said.
USC’s Student Government codes are in need of a revision to prevent misinterpretation by Student Government members, according to the recommendation. Other SEC schools, such as LSU and UT Austin, have employed the assistance of Goodman to help streamline the legality and clarity of their codes.
Goodman would go through the entire codes and mark suggestions for edits in red, yellow or green, Speaker Maura Hamilton said.
Red would signify if something in the codes is illegal, yellow would represent if something is not illegal but could present legal loopholes and green would mean it’s perfectly fine, said Hamilton.
There will also be a committee selected by university administration to work with Goodman on these revisions, said Hamilton.
Student senate will meet again on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 5:30 p.m.