By an 18-4 vote, the Associated Students Senate failed to approve a resolution from its own University Affairs Committee to back the project. That came after some community opponents of the project had repeatedly raised objections with the Senate in recent weeks. AS President Vladimir Cerna said student senators, who debated the issue for less than a half hour, want more specifics on how the money would be spent. There was just no clear explanation of where the funds will go.
Students are skeptical.
In an interview, Cerna said he personally favors the project. But he did not vote, and does not ordinarily except to break ties. If and when more details are available about plans for the project's revenues, Cerna said he would ask the Senate to consider the project again. The support resolution from the Senate's committee also had urged that part of the project's funds be used to reduce the cost of books at the campus bookstore. The senators who voted for the measure were committee chair Marc Powell, Elizabeth Luna, Greg Nakamura and Kristin Ekblad.