• The MUSG Senate approved allocations to seven different student organizations last week.
• The most money was given to the NROTC drill team, which received $6,720.
• The Senate also passed a recommendation that faculty be encouraged to accept double-sided printed assignments.

Marquette Student Government approved funding for seven student groups through Student Organization Allocations at its Feb. 19 meeting.

The full Senate needed to approve the groups' allocations since they exceeded $1,500. The allocations were approved with a 27-0 vote.

In total, 29 groups received $36,804.65. The SOA committee approved the other allocations under $1,500 without needing a vote by the Senate.

The Navy ROTC drill team received the most funding — $6,720 — of the student groups that applied in period six.

MUSG was able to fully meet many groups' funding requests because of the unanticipated surplus from Student Activity Fee funds and other unused budget reserves, said Kathleen Blaney, MUSG executive vice president and SOA Committee chair.

"We do have a lot more money available this time around," said Blaney, a senior in the College of Nursing. "We are able to fund these events much more fully than we have been in the past."

In other MUSG news…

 The Senate passed a recommendation that the Office of the Provost encourage faculty to accept double-sided printed assignments.

It passed with a 26-2 vote.

The recommendation evolved from a piece of legislation originally introduced at the Jan. 22 Senate meeting. That proposal requested that the default setting for all PrintWise machines be double-sided in order to save paper and money.

The legislation had previously been tabled for two weeks because senators were concerned the feasibility of the bill and the feelings of faculty on the matter had not been adequately explored.

The legislation was later withdrawn so senators could work on it more. The aim of the bill is now to work with the Office of the Provost in exploring the issue and to show that there is student support for it, said Senator John Kristan.

"What this would do is just say we would like to see a push from faculty to accept double-sided printing," said Kristan, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences.

However, according to Dale Kaser, special assistant to the provost, MUSG had not contacted the office about the recommendation as of Monday.

"A formal request has not come over that we know of recently," he said. "The last I heard it was still being discussed."

 The Senate approved an amendment to the MUSG constitution allowing candidates campaigning for Senate seats to solicit votes via e-mails, phone calls and other forms of electronic communication, provided voters grant permission to the candidates.

The amendment, sponsored by Senators Thaddeus McGuire, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Bill Doerrer, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, will not go into effect until it is approved by MUSG President Ray Redlingshafer and L. Christopher Miller, vice president for student affairs.

The amendment was approved with a 27-0 vote.

"I think it brings MUSG into the 21st century," said Senator David Franklin, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences.

 Redlingshafer said the university administration will be taking over the tutoring program, which is currently paid for out of the student government budget.

This shift will free up about $4,000 for MUSG to spend elsewhere, said Redlingshafer, a senior in the College of Business Administration.