Controversywithin the Student Government Association, regarding the constitution, hasprompted the need for change. Recognizing this need, the senate has opted torevise the SGA constitution. On Tuesday, Nov. 10, the senate held the first ofa series of open sessions, where students who do not hold a position in SGAwere allowed to voice concerns and point out areas of the constitution, theywould like to see changed.
“There areseveral bills and referendums that were passed already, so it is mandatory thatthese be placed in the constitution. There have been others though, such as the budget and the justices,”said Carmen Rossum, SGA vice-president who also serves as president of theSenate.
Earlier thissemester there were questions raised about whether are not money was beingspent appropriately, thus prompting budget issues between the senate andthe administration of ArthurMonroe, current SGA president.
“We are going toadd a whole new section on the budget so that the new senate won’t run intothese types of problems and so that they would be able to make sure that themoney is going where it needs to go,” said Tiffany Johnson, SGA senator.
The judicialbranch of the SGA that is responsible for interpreting the constitution, hasyet to be established. Justicesmust be appointed by the president and approved by two thirds of thesenate.
“Not having thejustices is a problem, because they play a very important role in SGA,” Johnsonsaid. “They have the final saywhen there are problems with interpreting the constitution, or between theadministration and the students and also problems within other organizations. A lot of people come to the senate andsay they have problems with something, and normally these would be issues theywould bring before the court.”
The method forcomputing the GPA for students who wish to hold an office in the SGA wasdiscussed in the first session. Currently the GPA is computed differently for students who hold anoffice in SGA.
“The GPA issueis something that we have been looking into; it doesn’t really have anything todo with the issue about Simmie Johnson losing his position, its something thathas come up before,” Johnson said.
Simmie Johnsonwas removed from office as Men’s Federation President when his GPA droppedbelow the mandatory 2.5.
Earlier in thesemester he went before the senate asking them to review the situation.
The removal ofthe Association of Women Students and Men’s Fed from the general organizationpart of the constitution was thoroughly discussed.
Removal from thegeneral organization would mean that AWS and Men’s Fed would have to drafttheir own constitutions.
“I feel thatthis is probably a better idea to have our own constitutions and AWS alreadyhas its own, it’s just never been implemented,” said Carone Carson, Men’sFederation president.
Other issuesthat were reviewed were the duties and powers of the president, and the dutiesof Miss Southern and the class queens.
Miss Southern,Enitra Jones requested that a community service on the part of Miss Southernand the class queens be made mandatory in the constitution.
No revisionshave been made official as of yet. Once the sessions are over the new constitution will have to be voted onby all twenty-one senators and it will have to be approved by at least twothirds of the twenty-one.
It must then goto the SGA president, to the adviser and to administration for final approval.
