The number of vandalism and theft cases has decreased since Coronado Residence Hall imposed tighter security restrictions earlier this semester, the Coronado hall director said at the ASUA senate meeting yesterday.

Last night's senate meeting was held at Coronado as part of an attempt to let students get to know their ASUA senators.

Coronado Hall Director Trisha Schwery spoke to the 10 senators about the results of Coronado's increased security measures and its impact on the residents.

Coronado is the only residence hall with cameras. Earlier this semester the residence hall also began to require that guests sign in, present two forms of identification and receive a stamp.

"The results have been great," Schwery said.

The new security measures have lowered the high rates of vandalism, thefts and visitors that were problems for Coronado in the beginning of the year, she said.

ASUA Senator Blake Buchanan asked if other residence halls will be increasing security after seeing the success of Coronado's new rules.

Schwery said that the increased security is usually in response to certain events that have occurred in the building, and right now it is not in the works for other halls unless they believe such standards are necessary.

Sen. Ben Weiss asked if the new measures have caused residents to have any less fun.

"If they aren't having fun because of the changes, then they probably shouldn't have been having that kind of fun in the first place," Schwery said.

Persona Undergraduate Magazine of Literature and Art is October's club of the month, Greg Billings announced at last night's senate meeting.

Persona publishes a yearly magazine showcasing undergraduate poems, stories, artwork and film stills.

"Persona unites the campus and the Tucson community by sharing the work of student poets, artists, musicians and filmmakers with community members," Billings said.

The club's high spirit and its unique contributions to the UA made Persona the winner of the six clubs that applied this month, Billings said.

"So often, Wildcat spirit is associated with only sports Persona exemplifies spirit by promoting on a local and national level through publication competitions," Billings said. "Persona is a unique addition to campus life as its mission is to promote the artistic undergraduate community and make their voices heard."

He also said that Persona has successfully transformed fine arts education into hands-on, pre-professional development.

Senators approved the Appropriations Board consent agenda, which allocated $336.12 to clubs for initial and special funding.

Video Game Extreme, which was allocated $145.83, originally had problems getting funding because the Appropriations Board declared that the flyers they wanted money to make copies of might be considered offensive to some students at the UA.

After the club revised the flyers and had them approved by Residence Life and the Appropriations Board, it was given funds.

At the Graduate and Professional Student Council meeting last night, officials said that they would like administration to approve their request for a graduate student body president.

GPSC President Jani Radebaugh noted that a graduate student body president would be beneficial to GPSC as well as all graduate students.

GPSC members also discussed the need for increased graduate student enrollment at the UA. GPSC members discussed ways to push graduate enrollment up from approximately 20 percent to 25 percent by adding between 90 and 100 students to the program per year.

Radebaugh said that other universities have an average graduate population of 30 percent.

Radebaugh said that a copy of the Shared Governance Memorandum will be sent to all GPSC members for review and encouraged members to respond with questions or comments.

The campus-wide review comes after President Likins decided to abolish the position of Vice President of Undergraduate Education without calling a vote, Radebaugh said. She said that his actions violated the memorandum.

Internal Vice President Brittany Williams discussed the upcoming research fair that GPSC will hold on homecoming weekend.

The event usually has about 75 participants who prepare a research idea to be judged, Williams said.

Twenty winners will win cash prizes and/or trophies and will go to Phoenix to compete for more prizes, she said.

The date of the fair will be Nov. 7 - 9.

Williams said that the contest is geared toward graduates, but undergraduates are encouraged to participate.