Schmidt cleared

Student Senate Thursday voted against admonishing Sen. Eric Schmidt (Soph-CBA) for comments he made during a debate over Academic Initiatives last month.
Those arguing for the admonishment cited the disrespectful tone Schmidt used and the embarassment felt by several Awareness Through Performance performers lobbying for a Senate endorsement of renewing the Initiatives over Schmidt’s comments.
Those against the admonishment focused on the difficulty of quantifying “disrespect,” negative public relations the move to punish the senator has generated, and the precedent punishing over a senator’s tone of voice would set. One senator said he heard Schmidt apologize to the ATP lobbyists for the tone of his comments after last month’s meeting.
Schmidt also asked the Senate’s forgiveness in a brief monologue, citing his passion as the reason his tone may have offended some senators.
Still, twelve senators were unconvinced. The vote, which required a two-thirds vote to pass, failed 12-12-2.

Today’s news

Keep an eye on tomorrow’s student senate meeting for the Schmidt decision and the inevitable continuation of drama. There is sure to be more news…

Also, grab a copy of The Racquet this week to see letters to the editor from two members of the Student Senate, who had something to say about our staff editorial last week.

And don’t forget to listen to commentary on campus radio. Tonight with Jake and Nik on campus channel 6 and Charter channel 96 covers everything from campus news, sports, and “more than you need to know.” Don’t miss it.

I also have to apologize. In the Dec. 3 issue, a handful of non-factual errors in a front page article made it to press. It’s tough building credibility among students, and to allow such slip-ups is impermissible. Please continue pointing out these incidents to us via your letters and we’ll continue to improve ourselves.

Keep an eye on www.theracquet.net for the latest…

Tomorrow’s senate meeting to be hot

Student Senate tomorrow will debate the controversy of the semester–what to do about Senator Eric Schmidt.

The sophomore senator from the CBA and La Crosse City Councilmember spoke out last month against a request for the Student Senate to endorse its own referendum. When he asked a group of students lobbying for the endorsement–which was to be made before the students were given a chance to voice their opinion at the polls–about the ethics of a governing body endorsing its own referendum, he took fire from those who felt offended.

A letter calling for his impeachment was dropped, but an alternative punishment, a collegiate “naughty slip,” is to be voted on tomorrow night. Controversy surrounds the move, and university officials have questioned the wisdom of the senate’s by-laws, the vague language of which allows senators to be reprimanded for showing disrespect–whatever that means and to whom it means what has led the Senate’s Legislative Affairs committee to try and flex its muscles by interpreting the laws loosely.

Keep an eye on TheRacquet.net for the vote’s results.