The weekly student senate meeting saw talks on the transparency of fees continue and the approval of two new RSOs and two student senators. 

Speaker of the senate Madison Veatch presented three questions that the fee task force was asking, the first discussing how fees should be based.  

“Should students pay for fees based on credit hours with a cap of 12 to 15 or a fixed rate for students?” Veatch asked. 

Student body president Taylor Cloud voiced support for fees based on credit hours.  

“I believe it would be better for them to be per credit hour” Cloud said. “It doesn’t feel beneficial for somebody who is only taking two credit hours to pay as much as someone taking 16.” 

Senator Sam Erwin drew from his personal experience to make his point.  

“As someone who is enrolled in 21 credit hours, I think there should be a cap,” Erwin said. “I believe people with more credit hours shouldn’t face more fees.” 

Vice president of student affairs Mason Tegeler was in favor of not putting a cap on fees. 

“You pay for tuition based on credit hours; therefore, you should be charged fees based on credit hours,” Tegeler said. “If you are going to ask more from the university academically, you should be charged more in fees.” 

The second question raised by Veatch was on whether there should be a rate for part time students less than 12 credit hours and one for full time students over 12 credit hours or a band system. 

The band system would work on having different tiers between credit hours paying the same amount such as one through six.  

Senator Claire Webber and parliamentarian Megan Fox were in favor of the tiered system. 

“One of the benefits I see of the tiered system is a great mash up of the capped and by credit hour.” Fox said. “If you are taking more than 15, you are paying more but not exorbitantly more.” 

The final question was about what the fees should look like on the bill. 

“Should it have one fee or all fees broken up?” Veatch said. 

Tegeler was in favor of as much transparency when it comes to fees, he said. 

“If you go to Walmart, you will know where every penny of the bill will go,” he said. “That should be the same for the university.” 

Discussion on fees is set to continue at future meetings, as the senate wants to bring in representatives from the University. 

The first RSO that was presented was the neurodiversity club at EIU. Club founder, senior Lucas Kinser, cited varies programs at EIU to help neurodivergent people. 

“There is a large coverage for helping out with all aspects of college though I noticed some gaps,” Kinser said. 

The club’s goal is to bring together people from different neurodivergent support groups such as Students with Autism Transitional Education Program and Disabilities Services, according to Kinser. 

“What neurodiversity club aims to do is to is to increase the interaction from people in STEP or are not in STEP to have a place to practice social skills,” Kinser said.  

The RSO was approved with 13 in favor, none opposed and one abstention. 

The second RSO that was approved was the gardening and sustainability club at EIU.  

“We aim to make Eastern’s campus more sustainable through composting food waste,” RSO president senior Taylor McClain said. 

The club would take leftover food from the dining halls to compost. It also plans to grow food for the EIU Food Pantry, according to senior club secretary Alexa Howard.  

Two new senators were sworn in. Junior political science major John Slater and Freshman accounting major Justin Ambrose. 

Next week on Oct. 30, the senate meeting will be held in the Witter’s Conference room on the fourth floor of Booth Library. 

Jason Coulombe can be reached at 581-2812 or at jmcoulombe@eiu.edu.