Following the announcement of the results from the Student Government general election, SG members made their way across campus to participate in the weekly senate meeting.The senators spent most of their time debating two resolutions put forward by Sen. Amanda Gammon, College of Arts ad Sciences, and Sen. Parker Wishik, Manship School of Mass Communication, concerning University budget cuts. The resolutions were backed by SG President Colorado Robertson.The first resolution brought before the senate body was SGR No. 19, which urged the Louisiana State System to administer performance based budget cuts to the University rather than the across the board cuts the state has proposed.”We don’t think the highest preforming school in our state should get a larger cut just because we have more people,” Gammon said. “Just because we’re better doesn’t mean we should get less.”Robertson said he disagreed with the state’s assessment that a larger university with greater tuition income could better handle budget cuts than smaller educational institutions.He said University students should come together to demand budget cuts based on performance rather than size.Sen. Brett Jackson, E.J. Ourso College of Business, presented an amendment to the resolution which suggested the University be exempt from budget cuts altogether. “Why not protect LSU forever and keep us as a tier one institution, because if we cut LSU we’re not going to be tier one next semester,” Jackson said.The amendment was not adopted to the resolution because the senate recognized it was likely an impossibility.Gammon authored SGR No. 27, was written to request the Louisiana Board of Regents amend the performance based funding formula to reflect an equal percentage state share of cost distribution among all Louisiana four-year institutions. Currently, the state has set the state’s share of University costs at 56 percent while other four-year in the state are generally covered up to 60 percent. The resolution urged the state to be equitable in its assignment of funding instead of providing less money because of the University’s size.”LSU students should not pay more of a share for attending the state’s flagship university,” Robertson said. “It puts LSU at a cost disadvantage and lower accessibility.”Some senators were unconvinced the resolution was in the best interest of the state at large, because smaller schools would take a greater cut should the University not.”I want LSU to come out unscathed, but you’re hurting education as a whole,” said Sen. Matthew Babineaux, E.J. Ourso College of Business. “Others schools are looking out for themselves, too. You can’t expect everyone to go to LSU.”Robertson and Gammon said the resolution was not aimed at taking money away from smaller schools in favor of the University, but instead creating an even field when it came to state funding.We could ask for 100 percent from the state and we wouldn’t be taking money from other people,” Gammon said. “The little guy is not going to have to get more money taken from them.”Both resolutions were eventually passed by the senate body.—-Contact Adam Duvernay [email protected]