With the strike of a gavel the Associated Student Body Student Senate approved of new bylaws with a majority vote of the board during the Thursday meeting. This followed the Clubs and Events Board (CAEB) meeting at which bylaws were approved Wednesday.

After a moment of celebration for the completion of bylaws, the meeting continued when CAEB President Jeremy Diefenbacher moved to hold a special election.

Members seemed to agree about having the special election, but there was much debate on which positions would actually be offered during the special elections.

Senator appointment was on the agenda and there was much discussion about how many more senators would be introduced to the board by the appointment process and how many senator positions would be offered during the special elections.

Diefenbacher was concerned that the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) would not be formed in the near future if Jorge Riley didn’t resign from his position as director of finance before running for president.

Diefenbacher wanted that spot to be available so that someone could run for the director of finance position during the special election or be appointed to ensure the JBC would be fully functional.

Because the constitution does a poor job of specifying whether Riley may hold both seats before being elected president, members had several interpretations of its language.

After discussion among members of the board and public, the board finally agreed that in addition to the positions of president and vice-president of student senate, the special election would open up eight senator positions.

Also, Riley would only resign as director of finance if he were elected president. He would then appoint one senator as the director of finance.

Riley began the appointments by recommending student Daniela Vargas as senator. She spoke before the board and was voted in as a senator on the spot.

After Vargas took her seat as part of the board, Riley began recommending students for committees, though the board seemed ill-prepared; one of the recommended students did not even attend the meeting.

Due to the lack of preparation and information, Riley differed with the board about the appointment process and all parties decided to postpone any committee appointments until next week’s meeting.

Riley stated that his next appointments would be “more controversial.”

The next meeting will be Thursday 10:30 a.m.-noon at the Student Center.