Student Senate focused more energy on filling vacancies this past week, and will hopefully have a fuller general body by September 28. Senate passed two funding motions without amendment, one to Campus Conversations for a Deliberative Poll on campus this spring regarding Public Art, and the other to the Film Festival group to put on its Faces of Democracy festival in McConomy and in the South Side.

Business Affairs is straightening out the situation with the Donner printer. After mid-semester break, the printer in Donner will be updated to match the rest of the newer printers on campus. B.A. also wants to meet with Carnegie Mellon staff member Marcia Gerwig to discuss adding a small stand-up computer kiosk to the University Center like the one in the basement of Baker Hall. B.A. also heard complaints about the copier in CFA, and is following up.

Campus Life is continually trying to improve Escort Services so that students can ride back to campus from off-campus locations and can be picked up at stops along Wilkins Avenue and Beeler Street. C.L. also wants to make sure that students know that they are allowed to eat truck food in the Carnegie Café once weather becomes cold, unlike the previous situation with Ginger's in the Tepper building two years ago.

Communications tabled with all of the Senate body last week, and received a healthy number of comments from the student body. Communications hopes to table one day a week on a regular basis this year in order to establish an in-person presence on campus. They plan to poster bike racks to gather feedback from cyclists on how to improve campus biking.

Funding brought two requests to the floor this week. Neither was amended to a different amount, but there was a 2-2 split in committee on whether to fund the $5,000 Faces of Democracy film fest request at $3,000 or $2,500. They reduced the amount of Campus Conversation's request from $3,500 to $1,500 because their total budget was $4,100 and Funding did not want the Student Activities Fee to fund a vast majority of the event.

Debate in the General Body Meeting centered mostly around the two funding motions. Arguments against the Campus Conversations motion centered around the fact that few students are involved in putting it together, and arguments for its funding maintained that the event was of such usefulness to the student body and Student Senate as to be worthwhile. It passed a three-fourths majority vote (19-4-1*) for $2,500. The Faces of Democracy motion of $2,500 passed overwhelmingly with only one nay vote and one abstention.

Student Senate General Body Meetings are every Thursday at 5:00 p.m. in Doherty Hall 2210.

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