The Student Government Senate allocated $2,365.55 Wednesday from its contingency fund to pay for airfare for eight members of the National Association of Women MBAs to go to a conference in California.There were almost two hours of debate on the bill in its original form because some senators felt the students attending the conference were doing it as a personal privilege.”This is — as they have honestly said — a networking convention,” said Sen. Amanda Gammon, College of Arts and Sciences. “They are going to learn to build résumés … They can do those things here.”Initially, the Senate Finance Committee set the allocation in the bill to $2,365.55. After some debate, an amendment was passed temporarily increasing the amount to $3,322.55. The focus of the debate then turned to the percentage the increased amount would take from the Senate Contingency Fund.”If it were up to me, I would pay for the whole trip,” said Sen. Cody Wells, University Center for Freshman Year. “But we only have a limited amount of money.”The Senate settled on allocating the original $2,365.55, which is about 10 percent of the Senate’s contingency fund, Senate Speaker Tyler Martin said.SG Director of Student Outreach Melissa Guidry said as of Wednesday afternoon, SG had received more than 4,200 responses to the Groovin’ survey since Monday.Guidry said rock was selected by 45 percent of students as their genre preference. Groovin’ organizers will seek a headlining act that corresponds with the winning genre when the survey closes Friday. Guidry also said 53 percent of students voted “no” to country music for the headlining act.The Senate also voiced its support for the creation of an equine science program under the animal science degree program.Gary Hay, School of Animal Science interim director, said a concentration that focuses on equine health care, physiology and nutrition is being considered.Hay said the program makes sense for the flagship institution because the equine industry is the second largest animal industry in Louisiana. Financial constrictions are the biggest hurdle for the program.”At some point, we will try to institute a riding program,” Hay said. “We would like to get to the point one day where we would have horses on campus for students to ride and offer riding classes.”The Senate also introduced the position of Sergeant at Arms as an officer of the Senate.The Sergeant of Arms’ duty will primarily be to maintain order in the Senate chamber.Multiple times during each meeting, the speaker of the Senate is forced to bang his gavel to either bring order to the Senate or to quiet onlookers in the back of the Senate chamber.Senate Speaker Tyler Martin co-authored the bill and said having a person in the chamber to ask for quiet will help transact business in a more timely manner.–Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]