SGA rings in new year with accountability, transit plans

This week SGA presented another resolution to its constitution regarding senator accountability. Last year, the resolution didn’t pass, but this time around the senate voted unanimously in favor of it.

Although the resolution is now part of SGA’s by-laws, it is not yet a part of the organization’s constitution. Before becoming an amendment to the constitution, the resolution must pass through SGA twice, and then be voted on by the student body.

“The referendum won’t take place until the end of the semester, but it will still be enforced since all the senators agreed on it,” President Pro Tempore Victoria Ferree said. “It just won’t be part of the constitution until it goes through a student vote.”

Vice President Stephen Hundley is the author of the resolution, and he brought it to Ferree’s attention. She amended the senator absence policy portion of the resolution, capping it at three unexcused absences, then approved it.

After experiencing several senator turnovers last year, SGA hopes the passing of the resolution will keep senators accountable for what they are supposed to be doing.

“This resolution is designed to keep the senate body as a whole accountable and to ensure we are all doing our part as rep of student body,” senior Senator Jonathan Savitske said.

SGA is also looking to finalize a project that’s long been in the works – The Centennial Bell Tower.

The bell – originally housed on a U.S. Navy ship – was a gift from U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn and Kurt Hoffman in 1989. The bell was located in Centennial Center and rung to signal the beginning of athletic events. But the bell was put into storage when the NCAA made a rule banning artificial noisemakers.

The original plan for the bell was to build a tower to house it outside of Centennial Center. But the costs of that tower have grown to be more expensive than SGA originally thought.

By May 2012, SGA had hoped to raise $20,000 for the project, but didn’t meet the goal.

The project now has a prospective new location, though, and it could be up on campus by as soon as Homecoming, Allen said.

“We’ve raised a certain amount of money, and we think that we can build a good-looking tower, “ SGA President Cody Allen said.

Currently, the location of the tower is uncertain, but outside Magnolia Ballroom is a possibility.

“We’re not sure (where), but somewhere on campus where we can start building tradition around it,” Allen said.

This year SGA has also developed more subcommittees to increase student involvement.

The transportation committee is working to create a late-night shuttle from The Village to Main Campus.

The trial run of the shuttle will happen on a Thursday night from 12:00-2:30 a.m.

In order to better serve students, SGA is working to start a blog. The blog will include a feedback box and the minutes from senate meetings.

“We want to be around, but our biggest thing this year is solving the issues. Evan built a lot last year. It was awesome projects,” Allen said. “But I don’t want to do that as much this year. I want to find out what’s bothering the students and try and get that fixed.”

Posted by Nick Widener on Oct 4 2012. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.