Student Government Association voted Tuesday to table the final vote of a bill to create a used textbook library for Colonnade courses, following a rigorous session of questioning and debate.

Bill 18-18-F calls for the allotment of $1000 from the SGA Senate discretionary fund to create a used textbook library for Colonnade courses, according to the bill authors, Senator-At-Large Anna McAvoy and Director of Academic and Student Affairs Aubrey Kelly.

If passed, the Colonnade textbook library will be housed in the SGA offices in Downing Student Union, according to the bill’s description.

McAvoy said the library will allow students enrolled in Colonnade courses to have access to free reference material. This will help alleviate costs for Colonnade students’ book fees each year.

Upon the bill’s second reading at Tuesday’s Senate meeting, debate was ignited over two clauses in the bill. In the first clause, “the textbooks for this library are textbooks that either cannot be sold or are older editions that are still usable,” according to the bill’s description.

The second clause mentioned $1000 in senate funds allocated to the creation of this library.

“I’m concerned as to why the [WKU] Bookstore is making us buy books they can’t resell,” Senator-At-Large Amy Wyer said.

McAvoy said she went to the bookstore first because she didn’t want to create competition for another WKU department.

“Since we are both funded by WKU, I didn’t want to create any competition between departments,” McAvoy said.

“They’re selling a lot of them to us for five dollars,” McAvoy said, “It’s a better alternative to just sending them to a recycling plant.”

Questions soon steered away from the finances of the bill to the effectivity of the textbook library since Colonnade courses change every few years. Executive Vice President Garrett Edmonds said they have talked about creating a process for this but it is on the backburner.

“There isn’t a process for taking a course out,” Executive Vice President Garrett Edmonds, who worked with McAvoy on this bill, said. “The course will sit indefinitely until a professor decides to teach it.”

The motion to table Bill 18-18-F passed with a 24-3 vote, with one abstention. The vote was tabled because many senators felt that there needed to be more discussions on the funding of the library.

In addition to the debate centered around Bill 18-18-F, two other bills were passed, Bills 21-18-F and 22-18-F respectively. Both pertaining to rewriting part of the SGA bylaws. Both bills were authored by Sustainability Committee Chair Jayden Thomas

Bill 21-18-F calls for the amendment of three points in the bylaws “to allow flexibility in the appointment of regional ambassadors,” according to the bill’s description. Bill 21-18-F was passed by a 27-0 vote, with one abstention.

The other amendment bill, 22-18-F, called for amending the bylaws in order “to protect against discrimination or harassment on the basis of gender identity,” according to the bill’s description. Bill 22-18-F was passed in a unanimous 28-0 vote.

SGA meets every Tuesday at 5:00 pm in the Senate Chambers in Downing Student Union. SGA will not meet Tuesday, November 20, because of Thanksgiving break.

Reporter Jack Dobbs can be reached at 270-745-0655 and [email protected].