By Victoria Gladstone
News Editor
Student Government (SG) held a general body meeting on March 30 in which they passed new bills concerning specific roles within the executive board as well as voted on presented organizations to become recognized.
A new bill was presented and passed concerning the reworking of the vice president position for diversity, equity and inclusion, among other changes.
A debate was held within this discussion to decide whether to run an assistant vice president (AVP) position for intercultural affairs.
Junior political science major and vice president of student services Aamore Richards spoke about the position additions SG has been making within the cabinet and the success it had in the past.
“Within SG there has been a highly controversial push to create AVP roles under every cabinet position,” Richards said. “Last semester a bill proposing two appointed AVP's under each cabinet position was proposed in a large bill which failed.”
As SG tries to readjust the different positions within the cabinet, it is passing individual bills while working with the current position holders.
Richards raised her own concerns about an AVP position and called for an amendment to remove the position, which did not pass.
“The concern with the AVPs is that the appointment process would distribute some of the key constitutional duties that are generally assigned to elected cabinet members to non-elected positions. This concern is a key reason why I felt SG would not need an AVP for intercultural affairs,” she said. “I agree the duties prescribed to an AVP of intercultural affairs are both important and necessary, but I believe that such significant duties should not be assigned by appointment but rather through an elections process in which students will have the ability to choose who represents them on such important duties.”
Sophomore political science major and sophomore class council president Justin Drayton noted the relevance for the new positions passed and was in favor of adding the AVP position.
“The two bills were restructuring Student Government and to give those vice president positions, essentially, assistants so they could do their jobs more effectively,” Drayton said.
In addition, Drayton said that by offering more positions for the board, they are able to “give more students the option to be more involved in Student Government.”
The final conclusion was to change the title of the position to vice president for inclusive excellence as well as creating the position of assistant vice president for intercultural affairs.
SG also discussed a possible proposal that asks for a “dollar” system where students can use their meal plans to pay for items in the retail locations in campus town.
A memo was written up and presented by Richards with the hopes of discussing the proposal with Sean Stallings.
“I think campus town businesses have continued to flourish and it would be nice for students to be able utilize their meal plan to have access to dining opportunities in campus town as well,” she said. “A campus town dollar system would provide an expansion of dining opportunities on campus and liven the campus community.”
Several concerns were raised about this proposal as there may be a financial burden placed on students as well as whether these plans could align with Sodexo’s guidelines regarding meal plans.
The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and the Speech Language Pathology and Audiology Honor Society also presented their goals and already established accomplishments within their groups.
Both groups have been accepted and recognized by Student Government as on-campus organizations.
The meeting concluded with committees reporting on their current projects and plans to the rest of SG.
SG meetings are held every Wednesday at 3 p.m. in room 115 in the education building. Anyone can attend SG general body meetings.
