SGA president will not seek re-election, official campaign and election dates set for spring semester

WKU Student Body President elect Stephen Mayer hugs his administrative vice president Harper Anderson after hearing that their ticket won the SGA election. A crowd gathered in DSU until after midnight on April 18 to hear the results.

Jack Dobbs
March 27, 2019

Student Body President Stephen Mayer said he will not be seeking re-election, as he is applying to medical schools and will be unable to dedicate much time to SGA.

According to an amendment made by senator Symone Whalin, the official SGA campaign will begin April 1 at 12:01 a.m. The SGA elections will take place on April 15-16 on TopNet.

After a lengthy session of debate, the Student Government Association voted to approve the Spring 2019 election codes Tuesday in a wide 31-to-1 vote.

The election codes were presented to the student senate by Jacob McAndrews, Chief Justice of the SGA Judicial Council. The debate stemmed from a series of amendments that were proposed to McAndrews.

While the student senate struck down every amendment that was voted on, there were still changes made to the election codes. These came in the form of “friendly amendments,” which are non-debatable, non-votable and are intended to improve the original motion, according to Robert’s Rules of Order.

One such friendly amendment was made by senator John May. May’s amendment stated that no sitting Judicial Council member would be eligible to run for a position in the spring elections. This amendment was accepted by McAndrews.

Shortly after the election codes were approved by the student senate, Jacob McAndrews announced his plans to resign from the position of Chief Justice, in order to campaign for an elected office.

SGA also passed four bills in addition to the election codes. Bill 15-19-S called for the allocation of $1,050 towards WKU Honors Toppers, Black Student Alliance, Students for Breast Cancer Awareness and the Vietnamese Student Association. Bill 15-19-S passed with a 30-1 vote.

Bill 17-19-S called for $100.28 towards purchasing reusable water bottles for a Geography 380 class. The bill was authored by Sustainability Committee Chair Jayden Thomas and was passed with a 31-0 vote.

Bill 18-19-S allocated $60 to purchase a half-page advertisement for the annual Miss Blue and White pageant. The pageant is sponsored by Phi Beta Sigma. The bill passed unanimously.

The only bill SGA struck down Tuesday was Bill 19-19-S. This bill would change the requirements of SGA office hours, allowing senators to use tabling an event as a secondary option to going to the SGA offices. Though more senators voted to approve the bill, the bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass. It failed with an 18-10 vote.

SGA also voted to table a bill. Bill 20-19-S, authored by Ashlynn Evans and Carlos Gomez, calls for the establishment of a senate seat to represent first-generation college students.

The final bill passed by the student senate was Bill 21-19-S. This bill allows the Legislative Research Committee to review bills that are to be presented to the student senate. This bill was passed with a 25-1 vote.