Plenty of confusion and side comments filled the minutes between discussion over the Undergraduate Student Government constitution during its meeting last night.

Enough to lead Speaker Leo Almeida to warn the senate, saying, “the side chatter really needs to stop. It’s really disrespectful.”

Some of the confusion stemmed from the line in Article VII of the constitution discussing the steps of students attempting to petition an issue passed by USG. The line that created confusion previously stated “after final approval of a senate resolution, the student(s) that prepare a petition must schedule a meeting with the Procedures and Appeals Board within 10 academic days.”

Internal Affairs Committee Chair Justin Albright led the discussion by leading with proposing the change of the words “must” to “have the option to” and “10” to “90.”

Off-Campus Senator Sarah Shepherd said she thought 90 days was an “absurd” amount of time. She pointed out that 90 days is longer than a semester when considering breaks and days off.

“I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but if you are passionate enough, you should not need 90 days to schedule a meeting,” Shepherd said.

Confusion came about the meaning behind what the constitution was stating: whether it meant students have time to schedule a meeting or to collect signatures.

“You need to clear up the intention,” Almeida said to Albright.

Albright pointed out that in the lines that follow, the constitution states the students have 10 days to collect signatures.

Off-Campus Senator Dominic Wells pointed out that a student still just has the option to set up a meeting, so a set time amount is not important.

Senator At-Large Sean Lutzmann suggested amending the constitution to give students 90 days instead of 10 to collect signatures. Academic Affairs Committee Chair Molly Albertson suggested amending it to 45 days instead of 90.

Members debated whether it was ethical or not to limit the time students should be able to collect signatures.

At-Large Senator Clayton Stewart said 90 days is too long if the student has passion about an issue. Lutzmann responded by saying that because someone has passion about an issue, “does not mean they have passion about USG constitutional framework.”

The members referred back to the “debacle” involving the Stroh Center last year, some saying that it did not take remotely close to 90 days.

College of Education & Human Development Senator Joe Edens said there are no negative effects with giving students 90 days to get signatures on petitions.

“If you limit days, you restrict knowledge,” Senator At-Large Cassandra Collier said, saying that USG has encouraged students to become involved all last semester.

“Last time I checked, we live in a democracy, and limiting time is undemocratic,” said Sentor At-Large Andrew Fortlage. He said giving students more than 10 days is giving them more freedom.

“We shouldn’t be what stops [students],” Wells said.

Edens said even with USG members helping the students during the Stroh Center situation, the process still took two to three weeks.

After the discussion, 29 members approved extending the time to 45 days for students to collect signatures.

Further discussion on the constitution was tabled until the next meeting, which will be held on Jan. 25.

USG budget expenses were also discussed. They consisted of a $135 charge for the live stream for the State of Student Body Address on WBGU, $6 for new office keys and the personalized hand sanitizers costing $682.61.