The student senate will discuss a new resolution to put the Douglas Hall name change issue on the student government winter election ballots.

“If the Douglas Hall proposal was placed on the winter ballot elections, the simple question would be asked if you feel the hall should be renamed because of Stephen Douglas’s political motives with the answers being yes, no, or indifferent,” said Executive Vice President Aaron Wiessing.

The resolution is under new business on the agenda and will be introduced by the author Jarrod Scherle, a student senate member. The resolution will be discussed and voted on at the meeting.

“I think that posing (the resolution) is going to bring up a lot of discussion in the senate, especially after our hour and a half debate about the name change at the last meeting,” Wiessing said.

The student senate passed the resolution against the renaming of Douglas Hall.

If the new resolution is passed and the majority of the student body votes for the Douglas Hall name change, then a new resolution can be written to change the student government’s stance on the name change.

Wiessing said he expects most students to be against the name change because most students that he has talked to said they do not understand the need for the change.

Senate members will be approved to attend the Conference on Student Government Associations.

Six senators have applied to go to COSGA, but only three will be approved.

“We still need to find out if we have the money in the budget to travel to COSGA, but it is a country wide conference of student government members from other universities that gather and discuss things that happen at their schools,” said Holly Henry, a student senate member.

A new proposal for a bylaw change is also on the agenda.

“The bylaw change is basically to set up a system for student senators to go and talk to the Apportionment Board basically saying that they would need the senate’s approval before they talk to (the) AB,” Henry said.

The proposal will be discussed and tabled until next week.

“We have had a lot of times where senators have needed money from (the) Apportionment Board and they would go there on their own, but the bylaw change would basically tie up loose ends and make it a quicker process with a unified structure,” Wiessing said.

The student government also plans to vote on funds for advertising the “Panther Cares” winter clothing drive.

The student government will meet at 7 p.m. today in the Arcola-Tuscola Room in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-7942 or rjrodgers@eiu.edu.