The Student Senate Campus Community Committee wrote a bill supporting giving the band 80 more seats at football games after a 4-2 vote Sunday.

The committee met with several band members and voted on the bill after some heated debate.

According to Morgan Donnelly, committee chair and junior in political science, the bill will be fast-tracked and presented to the Student Senate on Wednesday night.

The major debate at Sunday’s meeting centered around concerns the committee had about taking 80 seats out of the general admission pool for students.

“It’s definitely an issue with a large amount of people on one side and a large amount of people on the other,” Donnelly said. “I don’t know how it will turn out, but it certainly will be interesting to hear the outcome.”

Band members in attendance pointed to how crowded section 113, the section the band sits in now, became during the 2007 football season. Members said there were several occasions when band members were forced into the aisle between sections, making it difficult for fans to get in and out of the section.

Grayson Halstead, a sophomore in media communication and band member, said he was frustrated with how some committee members received the band’s message.

“People are being closed-minded and getting stuck on the issue that seats are being taken from the students,” he said. “There are hundreds of no-shows every week, so 80 seats is a drop in the bucket.”

The band is allotted 384 seats in section 113 with the exception of the top five rows. If the Student Senate passes the bill and Athletics approves the recommendation, the band would have access to the entire section, somewhere close to 464 seats.

Travis Varner, a senior in extension education and committee member, said he didn’t understand why the band needed the extra seats and said the band should have planned for needing more seats well before the beginning of the semester.

“I personally don’t like taking away student general admission tickets,” he said. “This is something the band should have planned for a long time ago. Ticketing is obviously a big issue. Does the band not realize that this is a big issue?”

Jon Warrick, a senior in criminology and also a band member, said the committee members in disagreement with the bill were making the request a bigger issue than it actually is.

“We support the football team and other athletics teams, and all we’re asking for is 80 seats just so we are not piled on top of each other,” Warrick said. “I’m frustrated with how some people aren’t placing the issue in the context of the situation.”

Despite his frustration, Warrick said it was good for the band to have the opportunity to get its point across, seeing as how important the issue is to the University.

Halstead said the band was crucial to the game day experience at football games and he and the other band members in attendance hoped the Student Senate would pass the bill.

“We put in more time than anyone else at that game, besides the athletes,” Halstead said. “We’re playing and entertaining 60,000 people, so we deserve it. We’re not fair-weather fans; we don’t leave no matter what. We cheer as hard as we can.”

According to Donnelly, the Student Senate will vote on the issue during its first meeting, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.