The SGA Senate held their first meeting of 2015 Monday, Jan. 26, at 7:30 p.m.
Treasurer Richmond Gunter introduced a plan for future SGA cabinet members to spend the $1.3 million in the student involvement reserve fund throughout the next 4 to 5 years.
"The reserve fund is where student activity money goes that has not been spent by Student Activity Projects (SAPs) during the course of the year," Gunter said. "The problem is there has not been a lot of vision or planning to spend this down in a way that benefits the student body and also has an affect that lasts several years."
According to Gunter, the SGA cabinet has put together a plan to spend the money in ways that would benefit future SGA members as well as the entire Auburn student body.
"We wanted to be the group that sat down and put together a bold vision for the future," Gunter said.
Spending would include improvements to the Student Involvement office, creating a student memorial, transforming the Student Activities Center into a functional auditorium and improvements to the Student Center.
The SGA would especially like to see expansions to the Student Center, according to Gunter.
"Auburn's Student Center is currently smaller than Georgia State's," Gunter said. "I think this current space underserves the students, and it will only get worse."
In other Senate news:
The SGA Senate introduced three proposals to be voted on next week.
The first proposal, introduced by Sen. Natalie Thomley, is a proposal for SGA to add a referendum to the Spring election ballot for candidates for the 2015 Final Lecture.
"The final lecture is given by a professor who has made extraordinary contributions to Auburn University," Thomley said.
The second proposal is a request to change a Constitutional Amendment, which will be voted on by the student body. In order for a change, 25 percent of the student body must vote with 10 percent approval.
Presented by Sen. Abby Lemons, the amendment would change the GPA requirement for joining SGA.
"This amendment will propose a GPA requirement from a 2.25 to a 2.5," Lemons said.
The last proposal to be voted on next week is to recognize Auburn as a Styrofoam-free campus.
"This is a resolution that recognizes all the hard work put in by Tiger Dining and the Office of Sustainability to make our campus a little more environmentally friendly," said Luke Carlson, senator for sustainability.
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