False starts and fond memories set the tone for Thursday night’s Student Senate meeting in the Lakefront Room of the Smith-Brown Memorial Union.
After reports from Senate and Governmental Affairs, Finance and the Student Affairs committees, the legislative body confirmed Kristal Walls as elections commissioner, a position recently vacated by Jerry Jones.
Walls, recommended by student body president Jamal Taylor, is a senior political science major who said she’s volunteered for several candidates when asked what managerial skills she possessed to attribute to her new position.
After suspending the rules—the first of many—Walls was unanimously voted in by the nineteen senators present.
Finances, constitution reform and commemorations were the order of the night, as two students publicly petitioned for their organizations.
Deion Dorsett, a former SGA official and current Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) candidate, sought organization funds for the Southern University MBA Student Association at the maximum assistance amount of $500, a move Dorsett said would allow his organization amble time to fundraise, as financial requests could take up to 30 days.
The second request, made by sophomore William Singleton, was for a bowling team, also seeking reimbursement for his coach, whom Singleton says has spent more than $2600 out of pocket.
Currently, the Organizational Fund has $1,500 in available funds. Several senators asked Singleton to reduce his initial requests to a more feasible amount, as, “SGA doesn’t have the resources to accommodate such a request.”
Finance committee chair Phillip Robinson moved to defer both financial petitions back to his committee for further review.
Dorsett also requested the senate bring the annual Black College Family Reunion, a joint celebration shared between Southern and Louisiana State University (LSU) alternating sites every year, back to Southern, as it has not been held on the Bluff since 2004, according to Dorsett.
“It’s long overdue to bring a program that started to bring black college students together take place at a black college or university.”
The meeting was slightly different in nature last night, as refreshments were offered to the friends and family of late Southern students Delonda Batiste and Corey A. Rhodes. Senator Sabrina Whitley authored five resolutions, two commemorating the loss Batiste and Rhodes, an expression for the loss of a senator’s father, and the last commending both the marching band and baseball team for their recent feats.
Former roommates of Batiste vowed they would send the resolution, bearing three inspiration verses, to her mother.
Cynthia Rhodes, visibly emotional more than a week shy of the first anniversary of her son’s death, spoke on behalf of the Rhodes family, thanking the senate for allowing her to address them.
“Corey’s father, brother, grandparents, aunts, uncle and cousins are here; he was well-loved,” she said. “Thank you. For you to take time out of your busy agenda to remember Corey in this special way has lifted out spirits and makes my heart rejoice.”
Following the special presentations, the senate tackled unfinished and new business, postponing all legislation drafted.
The former held two bills, both authored by Robinson, to amend the Constitution. The first, SB 002 the “You can do it” Act, would amend Article VIII, Section 9, increasing the grade point average (GPA) for the president, vice-president, chief justice and Miss Southern from a 2.5 to 3.0. The second, which failed in committee, would completely “eliminate the Constitutional Exam,” per SB 005, or “We decide” Act.
New business included an ethics package presented by Senator Demetrius Sumner and a bill to lower the passing percentage rate of the required Constitutional Exam, authored by Sen. William Burrell, as a compromise to the We decide Act.
The ethics reform bill would replace the less than one-fourth page mention in the Bylaws to a ten-page piece of legislation, to lend some, “Sunshine—a word we’ll be using a lot now—to describe the SGA, and to show that the current language is not sufficient to reign in improper behavior.”
When vice-president Wallace asked what the urgent nature of the bill was, Sumner replied, “It’s to justify the last eight months. There is a greater call now than ever for ethics reform.” Sumner remained vague on specific incidents leading up to the stringent reform proposal upon further questioning.
After several questions regarding the validity of lowering the Constitutional Exam passage percentage from eighty percent to seventy, Burrell agreed to allow the bill to be postponed until the March 18th senate meeting.
As one of the only students who stayed after the body’s adjournment, Brandon Myles, a senior computer science major from Baton Rouge expressed his displeasure with the association.
“Basically, I want to abolish SGA altogether. What have they (SGA) done for you, if you’re not apart of it? It’s just a popularity contest, like everything else on this campus.”
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Senate holds off business
February 27, 2009
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