Senator Alexander Johnson and Taylor Nelson at the last senate meeting. Photo by Chester Beltowski/The Dakota Student.

Senate’s last meeting on Nov. 23 before the Thanksgiving holiday saw two bills come forward for one consideration. The first to fund the Study-a-Thon was passed, and the second on funding the Big Event was tabled.

The Study-a-Thon is an event the senate has funded for years. This year, UPC was willing to fund the event. The total amount was $3,000 to go towards pizza, beverages, advertising and prizes for the event that is regularly attended by over 500 students.

“The SOFA funding model wouldn’t fit this,” senator Matthew Kopp said. “This is something worth funding for the future.

The other bill was another event that senate has funded for several years, The Big Event, held at the end of every spring semester. UND Student Body President Tanner Franklin expressed concern about how the organization should be using SOFA to try to fund its event instead of coming directly to senate.

“I love the Big Event. I think it’s a great event,” Franklin said. “But once again, it’s a student organization coming to senate. SOFA was developed as a funding place for student organizations so they didn’t have to come to senate. I don’t think that’s right. If student organizations aren’t using that, we need to determine why.”

The bill was tabled indefinitely pending SOFA funding.

Election Day

On Apr. 15 next semester, student government elections will be held. That date applies to all student government positions for the following school year.

Megan Hoffman is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].