The Student Senate exhausted its fall semester funds Wednesday at what turned out to be the Senate’s last meeting of 2002.
Senators voted to give $1,348 — the last of the money it can give out this semester — to the equestrian team.
The money will help fourteen members of the team to travel to Amarillo, Texas, in February for the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association’s event.
Sen. Katherine Nolen authored the bill to fund the trip. She said the equestrian team, now a club sport team, could become the next female varsity sport team.
“How well they do at these horse shows is going to be one of the determining factors [in becoming varsity],” Nolen said.
Sen. Michael Busada objected to the bill. He said all students pay fees to finance the Senate, but not all students will benefit from sending the equestrian team to a show.
“As a steward of students’ money, this will not benefit any of the students I represent, nor the students at LSU,” Busada said.
In other business, the Senate voted to cancel its meeting next week because it would be the night before Thanksgiving.
The vote made this Wednesday’s meeting the Senate’s final one of the semester.
The meeting also marked the first for many senators, as almost 20 newly elected and appointed senators took the oath of office.
On another matter, Speaker Pro-Tempore Katie Dampier read a resolution that would create a commission to examine online voting for Student Government elections.
The commission would determine whether online voting is feasible for the fall 2003 elections. But, because the Senate has no more meetings this semester, senators will not vote on the resolution until next semester.