The Student Government Association
defeated a 3-year-old resolution made to amend the student
constitution after 11 rounds of debate Nov. 18.
The resolution, co-authored by off-campus senators Justin
W. Moore and H. Dustin Bayard, calls for amending Article
IX of the SGA Constitution to allow non-senators to need
100 signatures to present legislation to SGA, and 500 signatures
to propose a constitutional change.
Currently, a non-senator must have signatures from 10 percent
of the student body, approximately 1,300 students, to present
legislation.
It was voted down 21-16 with two senators abstaining.
“I’m very disappointed that the majority of the
senators did not want to listen to the expressed will of
the students,” Moore said. “Why is there such
a problem with having more input from students?”
Bill co-author Bayard said the amendment would have given
students another avenue of participating in their own student
government along with going through a senator.
“What this would do is give students another option,”
Bayard said.
“I’m pleased with the way the vote went,”
SGA president Rachel A. Johnson said.
Students voted for the referendum when they participated
in SGA presidential elections via AppalNET. Last year, 1,460
students voted for the change, Moore said.
Johnson made a recommendation not to accept the bill to the
Board of Trustees, who must approve any proposed constitutional
change. The board voted against it June 6.
Johnson said the legislation would help students to bypass
their senators and undermine what SGA is all about.
Senators had different reasons for disagreeing with the bill.
Newland Hall senator Hunter B. Palmer said it could have
allowed for more politicized legislation.
East Hall senator Karl G. Lutterloh said that shouldn’t
be a concern. “I have yet seen one piece of legislation
that isn’t politicized,” he said. “If students
want to pass legislation that [shares] their political views,
let them.”
Winkler Hall senator Corwyn D. Sergent said students voted
for the referendum last year out of ignorance.
“I voted for the referendum because it was [on the
screen],” Sergent said in reference to the dialog box
that appeared after students voted in the SGA presidential
elections last spring.
Off-campus senator Matthew D. Whisenant addressed concern
over the senators’ role as representing students. “At
what point [do we] cut off and be representatives?”
he asked.
The bill was originally authored by Moore two years ago but
did not receive the necessary two-thirds vote from the Senate
for approval.
Last year Moore and Bayard co-authored the bill and it was
approved by the Senate but vetoed by then-president Ryan
M. Eller. The Senate overruled his veto, but the bill was
defeated by the BOT last summer.
Later in the meeting, Bayard announced his resignation. Johnson
said he’d been planning to retire but wanted to perform
certain tasks in SGA before he did.
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