Although students voted to approve a new Student Government Association (SGA) constitution in the September special election, the failure to implement those changes has prompted the organization to form a subcommittee for ‘Constitutional implementation and transition,’ according to the minutes of the Sept. 28 meeting.
Senator Amy VonHandorf announced the formation of the committee during her Student Rights Committee report. 433 students voted in favor of the constitutional changes, while only 58 voted against.
Among the changes yet to be implemented include the name changes of SGA officials.’ The executive board is to be renamed the executive cabinet, according to the new constitution. In addition, the executive vice president will be called the vice president, and most current vice presidents will be called secretaries.
A more substantive change was chosen for the election procedure for the executive cabinet, judicial board and student senators. All except of freshmen senators are not to be elected in the spring semester.
However, the future election of student senators is a much less pressing worry than the current shake-up of already elected senators.
The resignations of student senators Chris Wallace and Mike Gardner were accepted.
During new business, Senator Sean Henry moved to impeach Senator Adam Donovan. However, Henry ultimately rescinded his motion to impeach after NKU staff member Steve Meier, associate to the Dean of Students, recommended that Donovan be given the opportunity to resign. Donovan was not present at the meeting.
‘My whole motivation was to have an active Senate,’ Henry explained.
However, Donovan subsequently resigned from his position as senator.
‘I did resign last week. I had to resign due to my conflicting schedule with classes and the scheduled meeting times on Mondays at 3:30,’ Donovan explained in a Facebook message to The Northerner.
Henry said he was pleased with Donovan’s decision.
‘He has since resigned and I actually feel great about that,’ Henry said. ‘He never came to the meetings, didn’t ever do anything, so we have his spot open,’
Henry said that impeachment would have taken several more weeks so the resignation was preferential. These resignations moved the number of open spots in the Student Senate from three to six.
Increasing awareness of the SGA and its work is another topic that got a lot of attention at the meeting.
Some student organizations can expect visits from a SGA representative in coming weeks, according to Max Swartz, vice president for student involvement.’ If an organization does not currently have any of its members serving in the SGA, an official will be designated to visit that organization.
A public relations ad-hoc committee was also formed to help make sure students will know where to find their voice, according to vice president of public relations Wade Miller, who was elected to chair the committee.
The issue of cost of attendance is already rearing its head at SGA meetings.
SGA President and Student Regent Keith Kaseke is now soliciting ideas for politicians and business leaders to meet with to help with higher education lobbying efforts in Frankfort.
In addition, Henry announced that the Finance Committee is looking into increasing the number of student scholarships and in making sure current scholarships are disbursed as promised.
Michael Farris announced that the Residential Housing Association (RHA) will host a haunted house on Oct. 21 in Callahan Hall and is seeking the involvement of other students and student organizations. Interested individuals or groups can contact Farris at farrism1@nku.edu.
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