Southeast Missouri State University student publication

Student Government final meeting of semester, held over two different days

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Student Government Association held its final meeting of the semester on May 4, however, due to the amount of discussion between senators, the organization adjourned and continued on May 7. This was the first senate meeting since March 9.

The organization approved ten bylaw changes including three proposed changes to current bylaws, six budget requests and one new addition for student organizations.

SGA approved an increase of two dollars in student fees for maintenance and repairs, along with approving the WINGS shuttles, Club Sports, Student Activity Council, homecoming and SGA promotional items budget.

The increase to student fees will be voted on by the Board of Regents on May 15.

The budget for WINGS, SAC and homecoming remain the same as the budget from the previous year: $8,700 for WINGS, $115,000 for SAC and $9,000 for homecoming.

The promotional budget of $1,915.96 will be used for SGA items to give out in the fall for public relations.

Public relations chairperson Ayshia Gray said the items they are planning to buy include highlighters, drawstring bags, cups, mugs, reusable straws and potentially hand sanitizer.

Parliamentarian Anna Carpenter proposed a new bylaw requiring student organizations to attend two SGA meetings before being approved for recognition and funding.

She was inspired to implement this idea after attending a conference for student governments where she learned how other universities do this.

The purpose of this new bylaw is to help students understand their side of the funding process, “along with reaching more students on campus to show them not only how important Student Government really is to the university, but also how important it is to the students themselves,” Carpenter said.

An amendment was made to change the number of required meetings from two to one. It was discussed that organizations would not be allowed to request funding until the end of September, as the first meeting will be held the Monday after Labor Day.

The proposal was passed with the amended changes.

Senators Peyton Ruddy and Ashley Stephan both suggested virtual options to assist students who are unable to attend these meetings. Carpenter said these ideas should be explored at a later time.

SGA SWEARS IN NEW EXECUTIVE BOARD

A motion to swear in the new executive board for the 2020-21 school year was passed.

Sophomore Logan Phillips, junior Annie Martin and sophomore Kylie Noe were sworn into their positions of president, vice president and treasurer, respectively these three positions were voted on by the student body earlier this semester.

A motion to vote on the slate for the executive committee was passed to discuss, but the vote was denied during a closed session.

The executive committee is announced by the new executive board, including the positions of secretary, parliamentarian, chief of staff, diversity and inclusion chair, university affairs, student issues and special projects.

The meeting was adjourned and set to continue on Thursday, May 7, by the executive board.

“We decided to adjourn the meeting due to the fact that the discussion seemed to be hitting a standstill and our time had gone over four hours at that point,” Martin said.

Meeting continues and Executive Committee is sworn in

Due to the length of discussion at the meeting on May 4, SGA held another meeting on May 7 to finish the discussions from the previous meeting.

First SGA approved the proposal of adding a new honorary member, Jim Essner, to their bylaws.

SGA then approved proposals to change the wording in both 306.07 and 301.01 No.8.

Proposed by the executive board, these changes allow the new executive committee to be voted on and sworn in at the final meeting of the spring semester instead of the first of the fall semester.

After being approved, the senate voted and passed on the 2020-2021 executive committee.

Returning committee heads include Ayshia Gray as secretary, Shadan Roumany as diversity and inclusion chairperson and Ashley Stephan as university affairs chairperson. Carpenter will return to the committee but as the chief of staff.

New members of the executive committee include Douglas Gray as parliamentarian, Jake Wesley as student issues chairperson and Alexander Auck as special projects chairperson.

Phillips said he feels positive about the results from the Thursday night meeting.

“We had a lot of good discussion which fortunately led to the approval,” Phillips said. “[The executive committee] looks forward to getting work over the summer so we can best serve the students at Southeast.”

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