The Student Government Association (SGA) Senate met last night, spending the majority of the evening debating a motion supporting Gov. Mitt Romney’s recent budget proposal.

The SGA’s appointed ad-hoc committee for the proposal made a presentation to explain how it would eliminate the current system of higher education in Massachusetts and affect the University of Massachusetts.

Deputy Chair of the Ways and Means Committee Jared Nokes and Senator Brian Roberts told the Senate that they felt Romney’s proposal would benefit UMass-Amherst.

“Last week we voted to look more into the details of Governor Romney’s proposal. And over the past week we have been able to contact a lot of people who would talk to us, but not to state representatives, including the appointed Secretary of Education Peter Nessen,” Nokes said. “If approved, Peter Nessen would allocate all of our funding, not President William Bulger, which would therefore eliminate his office.”

Nokes said that the proposal to eliminate the President’s office would make Chancellor John V. Lombardi the President of the UMass-Amherst, as well as give him authority to distribute the budget as he views fit for the campus. The proposed plan also includes fee increases to all students’ tuition, with an increase of $838 for in-state students and a maximum increase of $3,217 for out-of-state students.

“We would be working on an individual level apart from the other universities and we would have our own board of trustees. We would be competing separately from everyone else,” Nokes said.

The plan calls for level funding for each UMass campus from last year until the present, and in addition we would expect a $26 million increase in revenue from just tuition increases alone, he added.

Several questions were raised, including potential problems with the UMass-Amherst campus receiving more funding from the state, in addition to concerns over how the tuition increases would affect students.

“We are not going to be knocking down any of the other UMass campuses’ legs so that we can stand up. They will be level funded,” Nokes said. “We are expected to grow and regain grants as a university and take on the role as the flagship university. As far as tuition, the increases are expected to be high. There is a Board of Trustees meeting next week that will decide what our increases will be for next year aside from this proposal.”

Student Trustee Bill Powers confirmed rumors that student fees may be increased by up to $2,000 for next year, and said he was not in support of the proposal.

“The fact of the matter is that the state needs to stop cutting higher education and they need to start saying that we are important to them,” Powers said.

Nokes and Roberts then presented a motion on what the Senate’s official position regarding Romney’s recent proposal should be. They proposed that the SGA Senate support the proposal, specifically in restructuring the UMass system. Nokes said that they are not in support of increasing out-of-state tuition to the maximum extent, but that fees should definitely be higher for those out-of-state.

“Right now we have more knowledge about this proposal than anyone else. I spoke to Ellen Story and she was asking me numbers. The Chancellor hasn’t even spoke to the people we have,” Nokes said. “Our opinion is more powerful the sooner we get it out, and any further pieces of information we receive we will bring back to the Senate and do what is necessary so that we will have a strong voice throughout these changes.”

Senators disagreed and the motion was called to debate twice. Members discouraged the motion on a matter of timeliness and for concerns regarding the possibility of higher tuition.

“The biggest problem with this motion is that the proposal is unrealistic to the working class for in and out of state students, and the fact that we have the possibility to give students land grants that will make this school affordable for all students,” Senator Paul Pitts-Dilley said.

Members disagreed, and with a vote of 31 Senators for the motion and ten against, the Senate passed the motion.

“I was very excited to see such an in-depth debate. It just shows how serious the Senate takes this issue,” Speaker Dan Saunders said.

The SGA Senate meets again next Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center. All meetings are open to the public.