Democracy in Danger: SGA Meets in “Special Session”

Last Tuesday’s SGA “Special Session” Senate meeting entailed the proposal of several bills, one of which will be presented as as referendum on the Spring 2018 election ballot, and others which the senators were able to unanimously approve.
Senator Caleb Holmes, a Sophomore Political Science major from Shreveport, LA began the meeting by proposing five minor revisions to the Election Code, which included adding an article stating that further amendments to the Election Code can only be made by the Senate, and lowering the GPA requirement to participate in SGA to a 2.5.
After short discussion amongst the senators, the revisions were tabled, and the agenda moved along.
Senator Caldrick Slaughter then presented a bill to the senate, that would exempt qualifying candidates who have served three consecutive years or six consecutive semesters in SGA from taking the SGA Constitution Exam during their 4th year of serving. The bill went into immediate questioning by the senate, whose majority was unable to see the upside and true purpose of the bill.
Senior Music Education major, Michael Bingham, of Baker, LA chose to present an alternative to the bill during his allotted public comment time.
“Regardless of how many times you take the test, if you can take it three times, you should know it like the back of your hand … so, to prevent the problem, implement a retake clause so if no one passes the test, they’ll be allowed to retake the test,” Bingham suggested.
Slaughter, a Business and Marketing major from Baton Rouge reasoned, “This is to get students involved in SGA as early freshman year, and keep them encouraged to keep pursuing SGA.”
After debate, the bill died in committee.
Last fall, the SGA senate passed a bill which mandates at least one year of prior SGA experience to run for any top-tier position in student government, including Miss Southern University.
This semester, Senator Makala Lundy has been consistently attempting to reverse this decision, and brought a revised bill, inclusive of her peers’ suggestions to the meeting.
Lundy is a graduating senior from Houston, TX studying Political Science, and is also a member of the band. She proposed this bill as a result of the negative responses received from the student body last year.
“I proposed this bill because of the backlash from the student body, and poor representation and support of the bill because of the unfair qualification placed on the students.”
The bill was decidedly moved to referendum, and will be presented on the Spring 2018 election ballot.
As the agenda moved to Item 9, Section A: Public Comments (Non-Agenda Items), students came forward to express longstanding concerns, but to also lend the SGA Senate some advice.
Baton Rouge native Kelvin Wells is currently a junior studying Political Science. As the former President Pro-Tempore of the senate and a concerned student, he asserted that time has played a salient role in the reoccurring problems the senate has.
“This is what happens when time is wasted… there is no reason why twelve people, as intelligent as you are, should have this many problems in this amount of time… it shouldn’t be the week of filing week when the election code is just being sorted out,” Wells declared.