The Binghamton University Student Congress gathered on Monday evening, with a presentation by representatives from the University Counseling Center (UCC).

UCC Clinical Director Mark Rice and Johann Fiore-Conte, the director of health and counseling services, spoke to members of Congress about changes the center has undergone this past year.

According to Fiore-Conte, there has been an increase in demand for UCC services. Enrollment at BU has increased by 12 percent from 2008 to 2014, but the counseling center has seen a 10 percent increase every year within that time period. 8.2 percent of BU students use the counseling center, and she said this is something they need to keep up with.

“The utilization on this campus has increased as well, which really is a good thing,” Fiore-Conte said. “If students need help, we want students to seek help.”

The UCC has increased their staff by 40 percent in the last five years, and Rice emphasized that while they have begun referring students who require long-term counseling to off-campus providers, they are still offering more services than they have previously.

“We are providing quite a bit more services than we were a couple years ago,” Rice said. “It’s not that we’ve cut staff or cut services overall, it’s that we have reallocated or changed our emphasis from some of those services.”

After the presentation, Congress moved on to committee reports. Julie Kline, the chair of the Planning, Research and Election committee and a junior double-majoring in English and human development, announced that elections for the 2016-17 Student Association (SA) E-board are occurring on Friday, March 11 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Three pieces of legislation were voted on, the first of which called for student support of the United Public Service Employees Union 1222 in their contract negotiations with Sodexo. Adam Wilkes, a sophomore double-majoring in economics and philosophy, politics and law, presented the legislation and said that something needs to be done to ensure the workers are getting paid enough.

“There is still no contract right now between the union and Sodexo,” Wilkes said. “They are still at the negotiating table, they are still at an impasse. The Sodexo workers don’t have a livable wage.”

The legislation, which is largely symbolic, passed with a vote of 32-1. Two other pieces of legislation, one which called for professors to notify students of class logistical changes and the other which called for professors to post students’ grades online, also passed with votes of 33-2 and 34-0 respectively.

Student Congress will meet again on Monday, March 14.