By Erin Kamel
Staff Writer
Student Government passed four bills and proposed two more at its weekly meeting on Oct. 4.
Chris Blakeley, SG’s executive president and a junior civil engineering major, proposed two new bills to be voted on Oct. 18.
The first adds responsibility to the position of the executive president, which already includes assisting SG in strategic planning. This bill will ensure that the president is following a strategic plan and action items that complement that process. According to Blakeley, this plan correlates with the College’s strategic plan.
The second bill reinforces a number of expectations for cabinet members, including to attend all cabinet meetings. Clarification that attendance at SG cabinet meetings and general body meetings by cabinet members is required will be added to the constitution to ensure that cabinet members adhere to the same expectations as general assembly members.
Brooke Chlebowski, SG’s vice president of governmental affairs and a special education and iSTEM double major, opened Bill F-2017-03 for debate. This bill adds the stipulation that the vice president of Governmental Affairs is allowed to correct errors in the SG constitution and bylaws. Changes would have to be approved by the SG bylaw review chair and adviser. All changes to the constitution will be announced at general body meetings. Bill F-2017-03 won the majority vote and was passed.
Justin Brach, speaker of the general assembly and a junior finance and political science double major, opened Bill F-2017-05, entitled, “Creation of a Deputy Speaker Position of the general assembly,” for debate. There was one change to the original bill proposed on Sept. 20.
Brach will initially nominate someone for the position to work under the guidance of the general body and general assembly. Members will be allowed to provide their feedback on the nominated person and either approve or deny them for the position.
The change addressed the original concerns SG members expressed on Sept. 20 about the possibility of bias with the person selected for that position. To address the concern, a stipulation was added to the bill that requires the deputy speaker to resign from any elected position that they hold in SG and the deputy speaker will be unable to vote in SG meetings. Bill F-2017-05 won the majority vote and was passed at the Oct. 4 meeting.
Brach and Dovid Wasserman-Plaza, SG’s vice president for academic affairs and a junior biology major, opened Bill F-2017-06 for debate. This bill officially transfers the responsibility of reviewing head senator applications to the vice president of academic affairs.
Under the speaker of general assembly’s responsibilities, “review head senator applications” was changed to “review constituent’s applications.” This bill won the majority vote and was passed.
Cassandra Kriegel, SG’s vice president of student services and a junior english and secondary education dual major, opened Bill F-2017-07 for debate. This bill was created to mandate the student advocate to sit on the SG committee. According to the SG constitution, the student advocate is responsible for providing peer-to-peer support and advice to students or student organizations who need assistance in navigating through the College’s various, policies, procedures, and offices. This bill also won the majority vote and was passed.
According to dining services governance report, dining services has plans to get rid of some hot foods, since they are not selling, and add more vegetables to their menu. Complaints about Traditions’ breakfast menu are also being addressed.
Elizabeth Bapasola, vice president for student affairs and SG’s adviser, announced that the College’s hurricane relief effort fundraising campaign, “Here for Home, Always” has reached 30 percent of its goal as of Wednesday, Oct. 4.
