Senate plans aid for Gulf

In a unanimous decision the Student Senate approved a motion to aid Hurricane Katrina victims at the Senate meeting last Tuesday.

The motion established the Student Senate as the campus source to help acquire aid for victims of the hurricane. Senate President Nick Cluppert said the Senate would create an ad hoc committee to handle the issue.

“They will probably be getting together in the next day or two to see how they are going to go about this,” Cluppert said.

The committee’s role will focus on finding different campus organizations, groups and students to help donate supplies to those affected by the storm. UW-River Falls is working with the University of Southern Mississippi-Hattiesburg to provide supplies to students in need.

“It’d be like clothing, food, school supplies.” Cluppert said.

The Senate will function as a reference point to funnel aid from the University Cluppert said.

Senator Carolyn Schenk questioned whether how supplies would be sent to Southern Mississippi.

“We don’t know yet how they’re getting down there,” Senate adviser Vicki Hajewski said.

Some logistics are still in the planning stages. Hajewski said the campus is focusing more on collecting the supplies right now. As of right now more than 100 students have expressed need for aid in Mississippi, Hajewski said the project will require a lot of support from UW-RF.

“It’s a large effort, we’re going to need a lot of folks,” Hajewski said.

• At the Sept. 13 Senate meeting, Pat Moriarty of Collegiate Services Inc. presented a plan to create discount cards for UW-RF students.

“Our goal is to save every student, faculty, staff member $500-$1,000,” Moriarty said. Collegiate Services would work with students from UW-RF and local business to create a discount card for students. Moriarty said the program is funded by a small fee paid by each business to be included on the card.

Senator Jeremy Bonikowske questioned what business the company would target.

“We’ll try anyone if it’s important for you,” Moriarty said.

Collegiate Services will work directly with the Student Senate to find distribution points on campus and desired businesses for the cards.

• Senator Joe Eggers said he would have postcards available to send to federal legislatures protesting a proposed financial aid cut. Eggers said the federal legislature is looking to cut $9 billion in financial aid for college students.

“Nine-billion dollars is a lot of money. We don’t want to see that cut,” Eggers said.

• The Student Senate will be hosting a radio show on WRFW to try to keep students informed.

Cluppert said the show will begin airing Sept. 26 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

• Senator Adam Koski was presented a certificate of appreciation by the Student Senate for his work as the 2005 summer senator. Koski was responsible for keeping senators updated on events throughout the summer.