Two main points of discussion were brought up during the January 20 Student Senate meeting.

One of these points, brought up by Senator Joseph Arasin, was about the efficiency of Student Senate and its ability to get things done on campus. The amount of things getting done by Senate is "not a whole lot," he said.

The discussion spun off into agreement that senators should take steps on their own to develop special projects, improve communication between senators, and introduce more interactivity on issues that concern students by electronic bulletin boards or questionnaires. There was a general sentiment that, as a representative body, Senate has achieved much, but that [even more improvements could be made on campus if senators became more involved , interacting with the student community, and better utilizing existing resources.] One senator remarked, "If we can help them [students], and we don't, that's just as bad [as not doing anything]."

Secondly, Senators also discussed establishing a mandatory program to educate students, especially first-years, about credit card debt and awareness about how signing up for a card on campus could lead to high levels of debt. Senators had mixed feelings whether this was an important, good use of resources, or if students would even attend.

A cleanly presented board displaying the architectural master plan of Carnegie Mellon's campus was unveiled at this meeting. The plan will be available for student viewing near the package pick-up area in the UniversityCenter. The new plan includes the new GatesCenter.

Among new business for the meeting, it was announced that an ad-hoc committee is being formed to look into campus dining. HSS senior Mark Roboff, who has had much experience working with similar issues with the Student Dormitory Council, will head up the committee.

During committee reports, the Campus Life Committee has been working to organize several improvements to our campus community. One of the immediate changes to campus will include synchronizing all the clocks around campus. Another proposed change is to pave over paths formed by students cutting across high traffic areas of grass. The option of have campus libraries open for more hours will be researched and new schedules will be posted to make students aware of new hours. The committee is also planning a Carnegie Mellon gear sale and a "Singled Out" game show in the near future.

The Funding Committee announced that their budget for special allocations for this semester is $38,000.

Internal Development chair Michelle Birchak stressed that there are still four vacancies in Student Senate. Two seats are available in HSS, one for CFA, and one available in the Tepper School of Business.

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