The Student Government Senate failed SG President J Hudson’s executive order to create a committee that would internally review and evaluate SG’s effectiveness.
Hudson was not present for the vote, and Danielle Rushing, University Court chief justice, spoke on his behalf, acknowledging she was unaware of many of the committee’s details.
“This will be a committee that could, and hopefully will, change the face and internal operations of Student Government forever,” Rushing read on Hudson’s request.
SG Speaker Pro Tempore Aaron Caffarel said SG has recently reviewed every governing document including the constitution, bylaws and rules of court. He said he didn’t think a committee was necessary.
“We have already gone through an extensive overhaul,” Caffarel said. “We’ve already done what the committee was meant for. We’ve just done it over a long period of time.
While it would be a great idea to look at other systems, I don’t think they would work here, and we’re taking away time from serving students.”
Other senators also expressed concerns.
“I feel like this is doing an audit,” said Sen. Weldon Nipper, College of Agriculture.
After the order failed, Sen. Cody Wells, University Center for Advising and Counseling, rose to a point of personal privilege and stated the reason the Senate did not pass the order was not that they didn’t agree with its goal, but because “we think it could be done a better way.”
The Senate passed a resolution to create an SG scholarship committee as well.
The resolution was sponsored by Brooksie Bonvillain, SG Senate speaker, and Sen. Caleb Abshire, College of Sciences. Bonvillian said it was a pre-existing account, and she was told it contained $3,200.
The account stipulates that scholarships must be merit-based and go to incoming freshmen. Bonvillain said she hopes to give the award to one of the high school students attending the upcoming SG high school retreat.
“This is something we’ve been working on between the branches,” she said.
SG also passed the rules of court revisions, which came from the Senate Committee on Rules on Monday night.
Rushing stressed the time spent on the modifications and requested the senators maintain a serious and professional demeanor through the debate.
“I’ve spent over 175 hours on this,” she said.
The 28-page document’s criteria will now be invoked at all UCourt hearings. The documents were last revised in April 2009.
During the committee reports section of the meeting, Sen. Sarah Lockwood, University Center for Advising and Counseling, reported the Committee on Student Outreach is “looking at” the University Student Code of Conduct.
Caffarel said they are considering posting a “code of academic integrity” on PAWS, and students would be required to accept its terms.
Sen. Carolyn Hill, Graduate School, asked the senators to consider participating in and promoting a “suicide awareness walk” scheduled for April 30. Hill said letters have been sent requesting celebrities, including Drew Brees, Britney Spears and Fantasia, to be guest speakers at the walk.
Wells expressed his desire to set a cap on the amount of money in the Senate Surplus Account and move funds to projects that would help students.
“We could be doing more with student fees than we’re doing now,” he said. “When we do start spending students’ fees wisely, they will start to care and take ownership in Student Government.”
Hudson continued to emphasize the need to “bust up” initiatives at Wednesday’s executive branch meeting.
“In the past, there have been administrations doing a half-ass job,” he said. “We’re not going to have that. There may be some initiatives that are in progress, and I’m OK with that. This is not Dani and I’s pushcard anymore. This is about our executive staff.”
Laura Boggs, SG director of transportation, reported the transportation department has completed all of its initiatives.
 
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Contact Andrea Gallo at [email protected]