Student Government made major changes to its by-laws and passed several resolutions during its meeting Wednesday night.
The by-laws are the code SG follows that outlines procedures such as removing people from office and explains how the executive and judicial branches interact.
One of the by-laws SG changed was the process of addressing vacancies in Senate. Previously, when there was a vacancy in Senate, college councils of each school chose an applicant they wanted the Senate to consider. Before the applicant was voted on the floor of Senate, the Rules Committee voted either favorably, unfavorably or no action.
The new change states the college council can send its appointed candidate to be voted on the floor even if the Rules Committee votes against it.
In his first proposal, Speaker Alex Grashoff proposed the change in the article allowing the council to have more power in deciding which senator will represent its college. If the appointed senate member by college council is denied by the Rules Committee then the college council can re-vote its desired candidate automatically into senate.
This change upset many Rules Committee members, such as Senator William Baumgardner.
“I don’t want to exaggerate the mess we are in, rules are here to clean up that mess,” Baumgardner said. “There are times that us as Rules Committee know a little bit more than them.”
Grashoff’s initial proposal barely lost with a vote of 21-22 but he proposed a second change to the article, the one that passed.
Another by-law SG approved requires SG members to participate in an annually selected community service project.
A resolution that passed through SG urges the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to add traffic lights from Bob Petit Drive to Ben Hur Road and the sidewalk from Lee Drive to Ben Hur Road. The Senators hope by doing so they would help protect students who are walking around at night.