Thursday, February 19, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 5
Bills spur extended debate Senate favors 18 to drink
By Marc Sheforgen
By Marc Sheforgen
msheforgen@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Tears and cheers about beer opened last night's Student Senate meeting.
In a 21-20 vote, Senate passed a resolution in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18.
Kansas City's Fox affiliate attended the meeting to cover the hour and a half long discussion, which included an assortment of heated and hilarious debate.
Molly McNearney, Nunemaker senator, addressed the senate in a speech against the resolution. The Union's Big 12 room grew silent as McNearney broke into tears when she talked of her cousin, who died three years ago in a drunk-driving accident.
"My cousin was killed because of irresponsible drinking," she said. "He was 18 years old."
Dion Jones, hold-over senator,
said he thought the resolution,
sponsored by John Colbert, engi-
neering senator, and Sam Pierio,
Language Arts and Sciences
senator, was a waste of time.
"From here, where does it go? It's not going to make any difference," Jones said. "This was a
pure publicity stunt."
The resolution has no affect on the state or University regulations.
Even though the resolution is not binding, Pierron said he thought this resolution could make a difference.
"I think it has enough momentum behind it to carry it across the nation on a tidal wave of student power," he said.
Pierron said he planned to take the resolution to other Big 12 schools, where he hoped to get enough support to draw the attention of state legislators.
Whitney Black, off-campus senator, was in favor of the resolution. Black said that drinking should go along with all the other rights people have when they reach 18.
Black said that when she was 15, her mother taught her how to drink responsibly. She said that with a lower drinking age, parents could teach their children about the dangers and responsibilities that go along with drinking while they are still at home.
"I very rarely fit into the binge drinking category, and I think a large part of that is because I learned when I was young," she said.
Passed
A bill to amend Student Senate Rules and Regulations; the bill called for a change concerning the Student Health Advisory Board
Passed
A bill to finance the KU Public Relations Student Society of America; the bill called for allocation of $750 for general funding and a special project
Passed
A resolution to oppose the drinking age
Passed
A bill to finance Sol Urbach, the KU Hilliell Foundation's Holocaust Remembrance Day speaker; it calls for an allocation of a $4,000 honorarium for the speaker
A bill to amend Student Senate Rules and Regulations; the bill would eliminate hold-over Senate seats
Failed
Added to the agenda
A resolution to oppose the United States going to war with Iraq
Holdover senators hang on to positions
By Melissa Ngo mngo@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Student Senate voted down a bill 26-18 to eliminate the three holdover seats after several hours of debate.
Holdover senators are elected by the outgoing Student Senate to carry on institutional memory in the next year and to serve on University Council. They have the same rights and responsibilities as other senators.
Holly Krebs, Student Rights committee member, said that holdover senators should be eliminated because they did not serve a constituency and violated representative democracy
because they were not elected by the entire student body.
"We already give students representation by electing senators from their schools," Krebs said. "I don't see how people on Student Senate get to elect another person to represent them."
Ken Martin, 1996 KU graduate and former holdover senator, came to the meeting to speak against the bill.
"Senate needs to elect members that are distinct from the new administration and the new body in order to have an institutional memory of what the old Senate worked so hard on." Martin said. "It is a crap shoot on the minutes, a piece of paper, for institutional memory. I would
much rather rely on people who have had personal contacts."
Martin said that when the Vision coalition ran several years ago, they took every seat except one. He said that there would not have been any institutional memory if everyone elected had been new to Senate.
"Then the only institutional memory that you'll have is holdover senators." he said.
Martin said that when the student body president was impeached a few years ago, the holdover senators were essential to maintaining Senate.
"People were calling for Senate to be dissolved," he said. "The holdover senators kept us on an even keel."
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