Senate turns down ballot measure to increase credit requirement for ASUN officers and officials

With the senate bill intact in its first draft, a student will need to be enrolled in at least 12 credits as opposed to the current minimum of seven.

According to College of Education Sen. Emilia Carro, the bill passed last year and was placed on the ballot, but was rejected by a small number of votes.

A few of the senators began to question the sudden jump from seven to 12 credits and argued for a smaller jump in the range of nine credits. ASUN President Caden Fabbi discussed the fact that the seven-credit minimum was set over a decade ago, and is important for the senate to set a standard. However, College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources Sen. Makayla Ragnone disagreed and stated that many students who are currently part-time simply want to be. In this case, Sen Ragnone believes that they can be of benefit to ASUN by providing more of their time.

Chief of Staff Raina Benford stated that it has been shown over the years that students who are not full-time are less involved and have a tendency to refrain from being dedicated to the university.

Speaker of the Senate Nick Andrew explained that the same discussion took place last year, when the bill was first introduced, and it was eventually left up to the students. Carro agreed that the constituents should be informed and made to understand exactly what the bill is proposing.

After more discussion, a number of senators became in favor of raising the requirements to no higher than nine credits. Though, Carro stated that 12 was significant because the Millennium Scholarship requires as much to be employed on campus.

Ragnone closed by explaining that simply because the majority of part-time students may not have the ability to commit to ASUN, the senate should not assume that it is the same across the board.

With that, the motion failed.

Maddison Cervantes can be reached at jsolis@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @TheSagebrush.