SA Senate Introduced Bills for Funding Appeals, Diversity Initiative, Approved Funding for S'mores Mixer on Election Day
The SA Senate met virtually on Zoom
Tuesday, Nov. 8, the Senate of the Student Assembly of the College of William and Mary met virtually on Election Day and passed The Funding Fire Pits Act and introduced two bills aimed at reforming the Organization Budget Allocation process and purchasing educational materials to promote diversity and inclusion.
New Business
The Appeals Procedure and Parameters for Long-Lasting Equity Act (APPLE)
Sen. Sean Nguyen ’25 introduced The Appeals Procedure and Parameters for Long-Lasting Equity Act, otherwise known as the APPLE Act. Nguyen cited a need for a codified appeals process for the budget allocation process for Recognized Student Organizations.
“In light of the Mock Mehndi Act, as well as the appeals process that was not codified, through the hard diligence of two years of formalizing OBAC,” Nguyen said, “we recognize that perhaps this is like a need to codify a structured appeals process.”
The Senate passed the Mock Mehndi Act on Tuesday, Nov. 1, to provide additional funding to the South Asian Student Association for its Mock Mehndi event. According to the Mock Mehndi Act, SASA received insufficient funding for the event this year after accidentally misrepresenting the attendance numbers for last year’s event in a misfiling error.
“And so it follows some of the parameters in this APPLE bill, it begins with OBAC having the ability to reevaluate any request that an organization may have to ultimately appeal, and appeal goes under several constraints,” Nguyen said, “one that there needs to be substantive change or discrepancy to the original piece of budget request that they originally submitted … and so OBAC grants this discretion to rereview then OBAC is the first body to rereview.”
Nguyen said he believes that OBAC is the best-suited body of the Finance Leadership Team because they are the “most-apt” when it comes to understanding finance codes and guidelines.
The Diversity in Action Act
Sen. Jiexi Lin ’26 introduced The Diversity in Action Act which sought to allocate $120 from SA reserves to purchase “800 PCs DEI-related educational stickers and 500 WM Resource Cards.”
The SA Senate approved both bills on Tuesday, Nov. 29 and Tuesday, Nov. 15, respectively.
Old Business
The Senate passed The Funding Fire Pits Act, sponsored by Sen. Matt Swenson ’26 and Class President Zoe Wang ’26 to allocate $398 from SA reserves to purchase two outdoor fire pits for $199 each for the S’mores Mixer event. The Student Assembly held the event on Thursday, Nov. 17, in the Sunken Garden.
Also at this week’s meeting
-Chair of the Senate Eugene Lee ’23 urged senators to submit bills that they want to pass this semester by the end of Thanksgiving break.
-Lin announced that the Botetourt Complex Community Council is hosting a town hall with members from the Student Assembly and the Residence Hall Association on Monday, Dec. 5. The event has been postponed.