Student Government held its fifth senate meeting of the semester March 24, focusing on sweeping constitutional and bylaw changes. Because of maintenance work in the SU Galaxy Rooms, this meeting was entirely virtual.
The meeting was dominated by the suite of changes SG was proposing for its own constitution and bylaws. The changes aim to improve freshman and transfer student representation, improve the senate’s efficiency and make the senate operate more like how it used to before COVID-19 forced it to scale back operations. The initiative, spearheaded by SG Vice President David Baker and Secretary Fatimah Yousaf, includes creating a treasurer role, reworking committee structure, increasing total seats allocated to transfer students and increasing the number of at-large and freshman seats.
Five different resolutions were drafted to account for all these changes, and the senate passed all five. The student body will vote on the proposed constitutional changes during a special election later this month. Baker said SG will share more details with the student body regarding the election once they have finished working out logistics with the Office of Student Affairs.
If a constitutional change does not pass, then the changes it would cause in the bylaws will be unable to take effect. Students interested in reading about the constitutional changes can find PDFs of each change at the end of this article.
The senate also passed two allocations to fund more campus projects. The Clothesline Project allocation sets aside $242.37 so that the Diversity, Equity and Belonging committee can host SG’s second Clothesline Project exhibition this April. Throughout the month, students will be able to share their stories and experiences with sexual assault by drawing on T-shirts at SG tabling events. All the creations will be hung up in the Student Union at the start of May.
The second resolution set aside $92.86 so the Green Initiative committee can host a panel discussion on “alternative energy on a global and local scale.” Fruit, cookies and lemonade will be provided to those that attend the event. Panel speakers have not been announced yet. The event will be held in the SU Galaxy Rooms on April 20 from noon until 1 p.m.
The meeting included time dedicated to nominating students to fill vacant undergraduate seats on the Committee on Student Media. For the second time, no nominations were made.
SG meetings are open to the public. The next senate meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. April 7 in the SU Galaxy Rooms.