The Senate opened its meeting on Sunday with a spirited discussion about the proposal to bring Bob Dylan to campus for a two-day folk fest in place of SpringFest this spring. Discussion topics included the administration's hesitancy, potential dates, prices and the number of off-campus guests who would attend.

Student Union Treasurer David Clements also reported that of the $22,500 available for the Senate to use and allocate this year, it has used only $400.

The Senate then heard presentations from two clubs seeking recognition and charter.

The first was the Skin Care Club, which will form a community of people to discuss solutions to skin issues.

According to the club's constitution, the goal is to "help students deal with skin-related issues such as acne, dry skin, rashes, insect bites, even skin cancers."

The club was recognized and chartered, with no votes against it.

Next, the Harry Potter Alliance sought recognition and charter to form a University chapter of an organization created by Andrew Slack '02. According to its website, the HPA is "a 501c3 nonprofit that takes an outside-of-the-box approach to civic engagement by using parallels from the Harry Potter books to educate and mobilize young people across the world toward issues of literacy, equality, and human rights."

One senator raised an objection that the Harry Potter Alliance would violate the "duality of purpose" clause in the constitution, meaning that it would overlap with already existing clubs on campus.

After some conversation, the Senate voted to recognize the club, but not to charter it. Senate members suggested that the club return in a few weeks to reapply for charter with more specific ideas about its proposed use of University funds.

The Senate then discussed two amendments to the Constitution.

The first, relating to committee meetings, said that the meetings are mandatory and that Senate Chairs must send attendance lists for committee meetings to the Senate President. This follows an amendment approved last week that mandates the removal of senators who have more than three unexcused absences at Senate meetings over the course of a year.

The second amendment sought to reorganize the process by which the Senate recognizes and charters clubs.

The amendment would have allowed for clubs seeking recognition to present to the senate on the first and third Sunday of every month, and clubs seeking charter to present on the second and fourth Sundays.

This amendment created controversy, with the Senate split on whether or not it would be more or less efficient than the current club chartering process, which allows for clubs to be recognized and chartered on the same day.

After two straw polls and eventually a failed vote, the Senate decided to table the amendment for two weeks, to allow for further discussion and compromise.

One senator suggested that the club support committee create a checklist for what clubs need to present when they come to the Senate to ask for recognition or charter.

The Senate also talked about Turkey Shuttles for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. The Senate is planning to begin tabling to sell tickets on Thursday, and will sell tickets to South Station, Logan airport and New York City for the same prices as last year.

In addition, the Senate talked about Kindness Day, which will take place next Wednesday and will "celebrate the kindness that exists in the Brandeis community," according to an email from the office of the Dean of Student Life. Executive Senator Ricky Rosen encouraged senators to sign up to man tables at the event.

-Sara Dejene and Sam Mintz