Senators revisited their seats to open the first two meetings of the spring semester Jan. 12 and 19.

The Student Senate opened with $18,000 in its budget.

With no allocations during the two meetings, the budget remains the same.

During the first meeting, senators discussed campus efforts to raise funds for the tsunami-stricken countries.

Ideas ranged from having Senate’s own campaign, to matching donations raised by all organizations.

During the second meeting, no compromise could be found so Senate president Eric Ducommun raised the question of creating a committee for further discussion on the issue. Senators did, however, discuss the possibility of setting up a booth in the Billingsly Student Center and asking for donations during lunch.

If they did this, they would match the funds raised up to a certain amount, possibly as high as $500.

A committee was formed, and a report will be made back to the Senate next week.

“I hope that with the tsunami relief project students are able to see we are doing something that will help other people,” Ducommun said.

All voting senators were in favor of the effort.

Another point of interest was the annual Jefferson City trip. The trip will occur Feb. 15 and 16.

This will be the first Senate trip under the administration of newly elected Governor Matt Blunt.

During each trip, senators hope to meet with the governor, but there is no guarantee it will happen.

Senate advisor Adam Griffin reminded senators to come to the meetings each week and to bring issues to the table they find interesting or important.

“Averaging 20 to 22 people each week, that’s not enough to have a good meeting,” Griffin said.

The first meeting wrapped up after nine minutes, and the second meeting came to an end in only 12 minutes.

The meetings were not as long as usual because there was no old business and little new business to discuss.

If a senator misses three meetings in a row, that senator will be dropped from the roster.

All meetings are open, and everyone is welcome.

There is only one item of old business for the next meeting, an allocation request from Delta Epsilon Chi.