The Student Senate passed a resolution suspending travel funding at Wednesday’s meeting. 

The resolution was written after conversations about if providing funding for travelling was good for the community during a pandemic. In the past, the association has helped cover students’ travelling expenses. 

“People come to us asking if they can get money to help support them for registration fees, air plane tickets, food and those kinds of things,” Senator Maggie Hole, the chair of the Budget and Finance committee, said. 

But due to the pandemic, members decided that it wouldn’t be wise to continue to use student dollars to fund these trips since they might result in more COVID cases. 

“Unfortunately with COVID and everything we don’t feel like it’s within the best interest of our students … or in the best interest of the community as a whole,” Hole said. “Those people do come back here and we need to be responsible to the community of using student dollars to fund travel.”

The suspension will be reviewed monthly to see if it will need to be continued, depending on how the pandemic continues.

“I think that the committee along with the treasurer are adequate to address whatever COVID concerns there may be,” Senator Tayton Majors said. “Given the conditions of the pandemic, I think it’s necessary.”

The resolution passed with 39 in favor, 5 against and one abstention.