Members of the Associated Students of Madison’s Legislative Affairs committee listened to a presentation covering the renovation of a church located in Library Mall and discussed measures taken to show students disagree with a new bill stripping them of renter’s rights Monday night.

Father Eric Nielson from St. Paul’s Catholic Church spoke on the church’s renovation, stating it was necessary to have a comfortable place for Catholic and non-Catholic students to integrate their faith into their everyday lives.

According to Nielsen, the church wants to implement the saying “There should be no conflict by what we know by our faith and what we know by our human reason” into the Madison community.

Nielsen said the renovated church would be open to any students who are interested in making the world a better place and learning how to work for the common good.

“[The renovated church will help students] discern for themselves who they are, what they are supposed to do with their lives and what truth is,” he said.

Attorney Ronald Trachtenburg also spoke during Monday night’s meeting to discuss the details of the building process through different commissions.

Trachtenburg said the group had already gone through many of the city’s requirements and received approval, despite adding some minor tweaks.

Trachtenburg explained the project had been revised from its old plan of being a 14-story residential college, which was nixed because of the university’s dislike of adding more housing to the particular block.

The next commission board for the group to go through is the Landmarks Commission, Trachtenburg said, which is necessary because of the church’s location next to the historic Presbyterian House.

Both Trachtenburg and Nielson said the designers and planners of the group intend to the project before the university starts to remodel all of Library Mall in 18 months.

Trachtenburg said he approved of this plan, as the group “hope[s] to bring some life back” to the block that the church is on now.

More of the meeting was dedicated to a discussion of a bill eliminating municipal restrictions on landlords and rental companies, which will be brought to the Assembly floor tomorrow.

“This bill will eliminate rights that renters have,” said Legislative Affairs Chair Hannah Somers, who added she is adamantly against the proposal.

Somers then advocated a state-wide call-in tomorrow, which is being advertised on the ASM website.

She added both in-state students not born in Madison and out-of-state students should type in their zip code on the website to give their attention to their own representative.

Additionally, Somers said a letter was sent out to the presidents and vice presidents of other schools in the University of Wisconsin System. At this time, Leg Affairs has 10 or 11 schools backing this initiative, she said.

The most important thing, she added, was to let the Assembly know that people will be against the bill should it be passed and that they are ready to be heard.