Student Senate’s weekly meeting was again dominated by votes to grant funded recognition status and special allocations to student organizations.

Two organizations attracted a lot of debate; CMU Gaming Club and The Tartan.

The Gaming Club requested funded recognition status so it could receive Student Activities Fee monies for the acquisition of board and paper games. The organization meets weekly to play such games in the University Center. Senators Matt Rado and Steven Kling attempted to modify the proposal to a Special Allocation instead of granting the organization the ability to receive funding every year.

Kling cited the large number of organizations that have been granted funded recognition status this semester as a reason to do this.

“I support the organization, but find a Special Allocation more appropriate,” he said.

Senator Daniel Papasian disagreed and pointed to the small level of funding that the organization would require each year. He said Student Senate would be failing in its role if it did not give funded status to the organization. Senators James Auwaerter and Jay Pujara also offered support.

The Gaming Club was awarded funded recognition status by a large margin. Non-funded recognition was also awarded to the Student Initiative for the Arts and the Game Creation Society and funded recognition was given to the Undergraduate Finance Association.

The Tartan requested a Special Allocation of $2,500 to pay for the publication of TheNatrat. According to Senator Auwaerter, who recused himself from the vote in order to represent the organization, the publication is produced every year near April Fool’s Day. The Tartan, which announced at a Senate meeting on February 5 that it has approximately $90,000 in debt, said it would need the funding to produce 6,500 copies of the publication. Advertisements are not sold in The Natrat.

Kling challenged the allocation. Citing information from The Tartan’s previous Senate attendance, he questioned why so many copies needed to be produced since the organization has claimed a much smaller readership.

Auwaerter responded, “The Natrat is our most popular issue. We feel it’s best to provide everyone on campus with a copy.”

Kling said that though he found the publication funny, he didn’t see spending $2,500 on it as useful as using it on other events.

Megan Flocken, chair of the Funding and Recognition Committee announced in her committee report earlier in the meeting that Senate had $14,211 available for special allocations for the rest of the semester.

Kling suggested publishing an online version to reduce costs.

“This is a lot of money for what is in essence a joke,” he said.

Several senators agreed that an online version would be appropriate, while several others expressed support for funding a printed version. The allocation passed 18 to 2, with 5 abstentions.

Special allocations of $1,750 and $1,000 were also awarded to the Robotics Club and OM respectively.

In committee reports, the Academic Affairs committee announced that there would not be an addition to library hours. Senator Rado said there was no funding for this, or apparent demand. The committee will instead look into rearranging the hours.

Business Affairs is researching a parking amnesty plan for students through community services. Senator Pujara hopes to have a decision next week.

Campus Life is continuing its research into the on-campus smoking policy. This policy prohibits smoking within 20 feet of a building entrance. Senator Rebecca Nathan said the opinion of non-smokers on the issue is well known, but not that of smokers. The committee will conduct a survey of smokers across campus to get ideas for a solution to the problem.

Communications is working to publicize the upcoming Senate elections. Students will receive a post card in their University Center mailbox this week and find posters across campus encouraging them to run for office. Special attention has been paid to the College of Fine Arts, which has consistently had open seats. There, each student will receive a specially prepared announcement and a petition form. Senator Erik Michaels-Ober hopes this will spark more interest in Senate from CFA students.

“If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what will,” he said.