News

Senate grants veto power

Presidential position becomes empowered after debate

Posted on April 05, 2007, at 12:00 a.m.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the General Student Senate a resolution was passed to empower the presidency with the ability to veto resolutions. The resolution, titled the “Presidential Veto Act,” was not met without debate.

“I feel that the president can already influence the government,” Sen. Mark Furrow said in opposition to the resolution. “There already is an executive check with the executive cabinet, because the president and vice president work so closely together the president can get his agenda through, through him [the vice president who does have a vote].”

President Priyanth Chandrasekar had no position on this resolution.

“The president has no means in which to enforce what he was elected for – what he promised to the students – and this will allow him to have that ability. The democratic principle in me says it’s the right thing to do,” Vice President William Pomerleau said. “We have a powerless presidency.”

Chandrasekar was empowered not only by the senate this week but also by Cornell, Dartmouth and Stanford to name a few. With full-scholarship offers from multiple graduate school programs, he is unsure of whether he will be able to continue his presidency into next semester.

“In the next couple weeks I should know. Bill [Pomerleau] is always there, he will be a good leader anyway next year even if I have to drop out,” Chandrasekar said.

Another resolution brought to GSS Tuesday was one which may impact every Maine student. The resolution states that it “supports LD #1633, a bill to eliminate sales tax from textbook purchases.”

According to Pomerleau, this will “save Maine students around $2.5 million and UMaine students approximately $245,000. That narrows it down to nearly $245 per student at the University of Maine.”

Many senators were critical of this, stating that the lack of tax money coming from textbooks would inevitably come from somewhere else.

“If anything should be tax-free it should be books,” Senator Sean O’Mara said, joking that, “I personally do not read books, but I respect people who do.”

There will be a petition all week at a table inside Memorial Union to support the legislation. Representatives from the GSS will meet with a committee in Augusta on Friday, April 13, to discuss the legislation.

Also at the meeting, President Chandrasekar discussed his idea of creating 20-minute parking spots near the library.

“This approach was not supported since it had been tried, unsuccessfully, in the past and was changed because of traffic congestion that it caused,” stated Chandrasekar’s report. “I will be looking to create some alternatives.”

Three clubs were given financial support at the meeting. The Steiners and Renaissance singing groups were allocated $857 for a concert, the Mock Trial Club was allocated $450 for hotel rentals and the Dressage Club was allocated $265 to host a competition.

The 2007-2008 annual budget was passed, leaving $108,952 unallocated.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2007, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.