Although many donned Snuggies in jest at Thursday’s meeting, student senators quickly got down to business on a lengthy agenda.

Drake InterFaith Dialogue was approved to become a university organization.

“We’ve been having monthly dialogues for a little over two semesters. We hope (becoming a recognized organization) will help spread tolerance for different religions on Drake’s campus,” said Jamie Schenker, co-president of the group and guest speaker at the meeting.

“We’ve seen through word of mouth how successful they have been as a group,” said Sen. Samantha Haas, endorsing the motion before it went to a vote where it received unanimous support from all senators present that evening.

Senators also heard certified election rules amendments proposed by Xian Zhang and Alex Bergman, the election commission co-chairs. The amendments would “ensure a smoothly and fairly run elections process,” according to the motion.

Among the amendments are specifications for candidates regarding campaign posters, filing complaints against other candidates, and the creation of a “suspension” versus “disqualification” so voters would still be able to vote for write-ins.

Also included in the new amendments is a section addressing candidate behavior and activity on Facebook.

“This area has historically been a problem,” Bergman said. “This year, we’re trying to put in regulations to avoid problems we’ve had in the past. It protects candidates against inadvertent error.”

Senators, however, had issues with individual aspects of the motion. The debate lasted over an hour with little progress.

“We need to trust the election commission co-chairs,” Vice President of Student Activities Tisleen Singh said. “They do a good job, debate for hours and look at every situation. We can’t cater these rules to exactly what we want them to be. We can’t be nit-picky.”

“We, as the people around this table, should be nit-picky,” countered Sen. Carla Olszewski, “because it will determine who’s around this table next year. We should have a vested interest.”

Ultimately, six clauses—those the senators could not decide on—were removed and the motion was passed. Stricken portions include language regarding Facebook groups and the creation of a “suspension” punishment.

Bergman and Zhang, who remained present for the senators’ debate, have made revisions to the bylaws that were most controversial based on that discussion.

“The new bylaws have been sent to Senate members and will be voted upon again at next Thursday’s meeting,” Zhang said.