The recent string of on- and off-campus crimes set the tone of Sunday’s Georgetown University Student Association Senate meeting, at which senators discussed ways to bolster campus security.

Sen. Nick Troiano (COL ’11) proposed organizing volunteer student neighborhood watch groups to conduct security patrols through campus residence buildings. The proposal came with the condition that the students patrolling would not investigate issues of illegal drug consumption or other issues currently under the jurisdiction of the Office of Residence Life or the Department of Public Safety.

Senators also suggested revising the current residence hall entry policy to extend the pilot program currently in place in Copley Hall. Since Feb. 1, students who wish to go beyond the Copley guard desk must give their GOCard to the guard on duty to inspect and swipe. Senators said that implementing the program campus-wide would minimize residence hall security breaches.

Sen. George Roche (COL ’10) proposed an update to the GOCard system that would allow the university to track traffic in residence halls in order to keep a record of who enters university housing and at what time. He said that the technology necessary for this system is available, as many businesses use it in their buildings.

“Blue Light” emergency call boxes, machines installed on campus to provide lighting and access to contact emergency services, were also an issue of contention at the meeting. According to Speaker Adam Talbot (COL ’12), DPS had reported that data accumulated by colleges using the system showed a lack of usage and an inconclusive effect on crime prevention. Some senators disagreed that the “Blue Lights” are ineffective, claiming that they act as deterrents to crime, therefore the effects are not immediately obvious in statistics.

“It seems to me from my experience as a student and having spent a year at a different university that they go a long way in making students feel safe and act, perhaps, as a deterrent to crime. The issue should be discussed and looked at because we don’t have a lot of blue lights,” Troiano said after the meeting.

Much of the meeting was devoted to debating a previously tabled bill regarding institutionalizing GU-SPAN, which streams GUSA meetings on an online channel, and creating a new webmaster position. There were disagreements about who would fill the post, with some senators in favor of hiring an external member and others advocating hiring within the senate. Ultimately, the bill assigned the vice-speaker to the role of future webmaster. The legislation did not pass; the bill failed to gain a two-thirds majority vote.

Student Activities Commission liaison Greg Laverriere (COL ’12) and Performing Arts Advisory Commission liaison Colton Malkerson (COL’13) reported on the progress of the student activities financing process. GUSA and SAC are still in discussions for a final agreement on the open voting requirement. According to Troiano, chair of the Finance and Appropriations Committee, they will meet next week to go over voting and reconcile the GUSA and SAC constitutions.

For PAAC, a reform agreement has been written up, but needs to be signed. According to Malkerson, they are still waiting for the vice president’s office to review the final agreement.

“This is a schedule issue, a timing issue. There isn’t any sort of resistance on the reform issue. They’re perfectly fine with having their budget being held off,” Malkerson said after the meeting.

Troiano pointed out at the senate meeting that GUSA did not need the approval of the two groups, and could simply not allocate the money if they did not respond promptly.