A new initiative by Marquette Student Government furthers its quest for protection of students on campus.

Brian Henry, an O'Donnell Hall senator and College of Communication freshman, introduced a rough draft of his "Students' Bill of Rights" to the Senate floor at Thursday night's meeting.

"My goal is to lay out a written document of student rights," he said. "Some students feel that some rights are lost just by attending a private school."

The rough draft was introduced so MUSG could start the discussion of the document right away and bring the "best bill possible" to a vote, according to Henry.

The Senate had many concerns with the document after the first read.

"What got this whole thing started was the issue with the Dental School student," said Alex Hermanny, MUSG president and a College of Arts & Sciences senior, referring to Theodore Schrubbe, a second-year dental student who received punishment last semester for comments made on his personal Weblog.

"I don't feel that this document addresses some of those problems presented last semester," Hermanny said.

Some of the Senate members could not figure out the purpose of the rough draft.

"We need to decide the purpose of the document," said Sara Stellpflug, a College of Arts & Sciences senator and sophomore. "Right now the document has competing goals."

Henry said the purpose of the document is to respond to some of the senators' questions and "to guide the university on how to protect our rights as students."

MUSG Adviser Jon Dooley was concerned about how the document would "mesh" with the other documents already existing.

"Having a new document that is different than existing policies will put you in an odd position," he said. "If there are going to be policies that conflict with this document, we're going to have to find a way to change those policies so there is no conflict."

Henry admitted that the document is not as strong as it could be, so the university will take the future bill more seriously.

"In order for us to be taken serious with this document, it can't be too strong or the university will ignore it," he said.

According to Henry's research, none of the 28 Jesuit institutions in the United States has a bill of rights for students. He did find one Catholic school, the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, with a similar document.

Although the Senate addressed many concerns with the document, most of the senators were pleased with the effort Henry put into the draft.

"Brian did a good job with working on this document," said Dan Calandriello, a College of Business Administration senator and junior.

Henry said he spent a lot of time talking to his constituents and other experts when writing the document.

"I spoke to number of organizations, students and my hall council (O'Donnell Hall) and got feedback from all of them," he said. "I also spoke to several First Amendment attorneys."

The draft will be brought in front of the Business & Government committee in bill form this week, according to Henry.