New Student Senate passes first special allocation request

The newly elected members of the student government recently oversaw the Student Senate passing a request by the Robot Club for a special allocations grant during the March 19 meeting.

The Student Senate, having recently had presidential and vice presidential elections, has elected President Amos Mainville and Vice President Kevin Kostyck.

The Robot Club is attempting to host a competition in the Knight Club of Powell Campus Center through the Robot Fighting League.

The request for funds through special allocations by the Robot Club was for six controllers. Five of these controllers are for smaller ‘beetle’ bots, while one controller is for AU’s 120-lb robot mascot, “Angry Saxon.” All of these supplies are to be purchased from Robotmarketplace.com and towerhobbies.com.

The club’s request for these items was brought forward because the robots cannot be run legally without the FCC-required equipment.

The amount requested and agreed to by the Student Senate was $1,301.28.

“This would be a relatively small amount” the treasurer said, adding that the sum was likely to be around five percent or less of what was in special allocations.

Currently the Robot Club has three robots.

There hasn’t been a large amount of interest in the club recently, although by trying to get involved in the Robot Fighting League, which is a group that organizes combat robot competitions, the club is attempting to generate greater student interest.

These on campus Robot Club events will be free to anyone who wishes to attend.

Student Senate meets every Wednesday at 8:00 p.m., and any clubs attempting to gain special allocations funding must do so through the approval of a senate vote.