ELISHA VALLADARES-CORMIER
CATHOLIC VALUES COLUMNIST
Franciscan University Student Government allocated $70 during its Wednesday meeting to hire a student to remove outdated signage over the remainder of the semester.
Spring Bill 45 originally proposed to pay sophomore John Selle $150 over the remainder of the semester to remove outdated signs from the J.C. Williams Center, Egan Hall, Cosmas and Damian Hall and other poster boards across campus.
Sen. Daniel McNichol spoke up in support of the bill, saying Selle is a hard worker and would go around campus once a week for about an hour removing outdated signs, which McNichol said justified the roughly $10-per-hour rate of the allocation.
Sen. Monica Surovec spoke in opposition to the allocation, saying that many students in the university’s Student Work Opportunity Program are only paid minimum wage – $8.55 per hour in Ohio – making the allocation seem too high.
President Gabe Gessler said that the rate is more than the highest-level SWOP workers receive – $9.80 per hour in a level 6 position – and threatened to veto the bill.
In a compromise, Sen. Athanasius Sirilla made a motion to cut the bill roughly in half to $70 for the remainder of the semester, which was passed by the Senate. When the revised bill came to a formal vote, it passed unanimously.
Gessler said he was satisfied with the amendments made and would no longer veto the bill.
The university’s two Ultimate teams also received funding at the meeting.
Franciscan Fire, the women’s team, was allocated $150 for a bid in the Steel Spirit tournament, $122 for two players to become members of USA Ultimate, and $302.80 for the purchase of jerseys for the team. That amount was in addition to a $500 reallocation to cover the cost of the rest of the team’s jerseys. All bills were passed.
Franciscan Fatal, the men’s team, was reallocated $500 to cover the cost of renting vans for a tournament and allocated $44.60 for lodging; the team had been originally allocated $1,000 for lodging, but the cost had gone over the limit by $44.60, said Coach Ian Gill. The bills passed unanimously.
Student Government will next meet March 6 at 11 a.m. in the St. Leo Room.