As classes roll into the second week and students reestablish their routines, the Student Senate is hitting the new semester at a dead run.

 
Among the issues handled at Sunday’s meeting was the budget for Casino Night, which is to be held on Feb. 9 in the Frey Conference Suite.

 
This year’s theme is Mardis Gras and decorations are looking to be a bigger item on the budget than in years past. Other than that, the biggest change is that there will not be a violinist performing in the gaming area. The funds will be used to rent two photo booths and run a mocktail bar in the lobby.

 
The WSC Student Food Pantry sent a representative to the meeting to ask for a donation to pay for perishable food items. Due to falling into a sort of categorical crack, filling the criteria for neither a club nor campus organization, it can’t officially receive funding from the Senate.

 
The pantry gets donations of both money and nonperishable food from several groups on and off campus, but it still struggles to keep enough on the shelves to meet all the requests from students. Any donations that can be brought would be appreciated.

 
The pantry also suffers from a general lack of awareness of its existence and when it can be accessed. Right now the staff is working with a computer science class to get a website and social media presence.

 
It is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays in the basement of Morey Hall.

 
Perhaps the biggest issue discussed was whether or not the Senate should raise the student activity fee. Currently, Wayne has the lowest fee in the Nebraska State College System at $4.25, compared to Chadron’s $5.66 and Peru’s $6. The case was made that the allocations committee has been cutting funding to several clubs because the budget couldn’t cover the old activity costs.

Increasing the amount by even one dollar could add roughly $3,000 to the budget while adding less than $30 to tuition.

 
It was proposed that before raising the fee, some research should be done into how much of the budget a given club will actually see come back to it. The example offered was that while each student pays between $20 and $30 into the activities budget, some clubs will have access to thousands of dollars while others will be lucky to see their own investment.

 
The idea was tabled for further research before action will be taken.

 
Plans to build the pavilion up by the sand volleyball courts are moving forward. The Industrial Technology 428 class will commence construction sometime in late February or early March, whenever weather conditions allow.

 
The Campus Beautification Committee has requested that the pavilion have a natural aesthetic to jive with the campus and the location, adding a little to the cost of construction.

 
For reasons unclear, the minimum age of students staying in the residence halls has been raised to 17. This wasn’t decided by the Senate, but by the NSCS at its Board of Trustees meeting in Wayne in November.

 
To any students looking to get more involved with the campus government, the Senate has had seats open up in multiple constituencies. It’s a decently long list, you can contact the faculty advisor to the Senate, Dr. Jeff Carstens, at [email protected] if you fall into one of them or to see about openings.