SGA judicial council shoots down amendment, recommendation

Kaely Holloway

Student Government Association’s judicial council shot down both an Amendment and a recommendation by Howard Bailey, vice president for student affairs, at it’s Tuesday meeting.

An amendment regarding adding an international seat in the Senate was recently deemed unconstitutional by the Judicial Council, as they said it violated the University’s Discrimination code by showing favor to another on a basis other than individual merit.

In response to this, Mark Reeves, executive vice president, encouraged international students to run, as the proposed amendment was meant to include and encourage more international participation in SGA.

“In light of the Judicial Council ruling, I do encourage you, if you have international student classmates, to encourage them to run for these positions,” Reeves said during the Tuesday night meeting. “We need to have all the voices on campus represented.”

The report defined the word “discriminate,” stating it related to this case by showing a difference in treatment or favor on a basis other than individual merit.

“When we have more information in regards to whether or not it is actually constitutionally conflictive, we will bring that up for second read, but for now it stays in first read,” SGA President Keyana Boka said at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Bailey submitted a memo recommending a change of section 3.8 of the SGA Election code allowing candidates to use electronic mail for self promotion prior to and during the election.

Once all candidates have been certificated and validated by the Office of Student Activities that office will produce and send out a student mass email listing all candidates, and the position they are running for, the proposal states.

The Judicial Council shot down the proposal, with their decision stating that changing the code would give an “unfair advantage” to students with access to emailing lists.

Preparations are also underway for fall elections, which will take place on Sept. 17 and 18.

“We’re just in the promotional phase right now, encouraging people to apply,” Laura Harper, director of public relations, said.

There are three at large seats open, in addition to freshman seats and graduate student seats.

Boka encouraged members to assist in getting the word out about elections during Tuesday’s meeting.

“Tell your friends, post a status, tweet about it, encourage people to run for these elections,” Boka said.

This election will also provide a new form of representation. Each academic college will be represented by a senator, allowing a representative to run on behalf of their college.

“It will even out representation, improving having all voices represented,” Harper said.

Posters and other promotional materials will be posted and distributed throughout the week, providing sign-up information.

Applications, posted online, are due Sept. 10. Results for the election will be released on Sept. 19 at 12 a.m.