SGA senate passes bylaws, constitution still undecided

Amid staunch opposition and controversy, 15 senators of the Student Government Association unanimously passed amendments to the student government bylaws during a meeting Tuesday in the Blue and Gold Room of the Smith-Brown Memorial Union.
“Last semester we ran into some problems, so our advisor suggested that the bylaws be redone because the constitution had been revised at least three times,” said Tiffany Johnson, SGA vice president and student senate president. “But the bylaws had never been revised so we had each document contradicting each other.”
At the request of SGA advisor Russell Frazier, Johnson formed the Constitution and Bylaws Revision Committee in October 2005. They were given the task of identifying ways to update and parallel both the constitution and bylaws. The committee presented its findings in early January.
Committee chair Kerry Ash said the process was controversial because the opposition came from the pettiness of a select few who were making an effort to hold on to power. He said the document was not meant to favor anyone but to provide the best quality of leadership for the student body.
“The documents didn’t agree or give out responsibility. They didn’t define processes or give authority where it belongs. The new constitution and bylaws will do that,” Ash said. “Recent history has shown that we need to try to clearly define each branches rights and authorities and that’s what these documents do.”
Frazier said he requested the student senate to review both documents in effort to avoid problems later.
“I told them instead of looking at just a part of the constitution, look at the whole constitution because when you change some things that may affect other things that’s in the constitution and that may also effect your bylaws,” Frazier said. “If your bylaws are saying you can do one thing, and your constitution is saying you can’t, of course, that’s conflicting so you need to make sure that your bylaws are consistent with your constitution. That’s primarily why I asked them to look at revising both documents.”
One of the items that became a strong topic of debate was the possible amendment to raise grade point average requirements. Rumors circulated throughout SGA and the campus that certain senators wanted to raise the GPA requirements from a 2.50 to 2.85 so that competition fields would be downsized.
“It’s not about eliminating competition, it’s about putting who’s best qualified into the position,” Ash said. “Those people who oppose it are concerned about themselves and many of them have just heard things about the documents having not actually read them.”
If the constitution passes the new GPA requirement wouldn’t take effect until 2009.
The senate planned to vote on the revised constitution at the March 7 meeting but proceedings were halted when a judicial order by the student court declared all operations of the constitutional revision process were to be ceased until further notice apparently due to formatting and other issues the court had with the revised constitution.
“We were looking at an interpretation on when we would be able to vote on the constitution so I wrote a letter asking for an interpretation and from there they found other issues with the process,” Johnson said.
According to Ash, the judicial order was lifted on Tuesday and the senate will be voting on the new constitution at the next meeting on March 28 at 6 p.m. in the Henton Conference Room of the Smith-Brown Memorial Union.
Frazier said he was extremely proud of the student senate because they sought outside consultation from elected officials and other legal professionals, resulting in the production of a better and more effective governing document.
“If the senate passes this constitution, it would probably one of the best constitutions in the United States as far as colleges and universities are concerned,” Frazier said.