Senate Announces Constitution Approval Stalls Until June

Editor-in-Chief

 
   The chairperson of the Constitutional Conference announced in the Student Senate meeting Wednesday, Feb. 11 the earliest the revised Student Government Association constitution can take effect will be June.

Photo by Danielle Kloap

Roll Call - Student Senate Clerk Katherine Shelby, an early childhood education major, prepares to call the roll at the senate meeting Wednesday, Feb. 11. The senate voted to add a secretary position, helping Shelby with all of the paperwork her job entails.

   Zack Tucker, chair for the conference and a sophomore political science major, said once the conference votes on the final revised constitution, it then has to pass through the senate, the student body, the Assembly, Chancellor Jack Lassiter and the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees. He said he met with Lassiter about the constitution.

   “Dr. Lassiter said the administration is behind us,” Tucker said. “He was very helpful.”

   Michael Thomas, SGA president, said the constitution does not state revisions have to be approved by the Board of Trustees. Tucker pointed out everything the Assembly approves must be approved by the Board of Trustees.

   With executive board positions and half of the senate positions coming up for reelection in April, the new constitution will not be ratified before then. President Pro-tempore Sandy Herring, a sophomore nursing major, said the election commission will help the situation.

   “The commission will give us guidelines that will get us into next year,” Herring said.

   The other half of the senate positions will come up for reelection in the fall. According to the current constitution, each department has two senate positions, with the first one being elected in the spring and the second in the fall. Tucker said since the senators right now are appointed, another method will have to be used to determine when each position will be reelected. Tucker recommended assigning each senator a number and using a computerized random-number generator for a fair way to determine which positions will be reelected in April.

   When Herring called for nominations for the election commission, she urged the senators to think about who they chose to nominate.

   “Think about who you’re nominating,” Herring said. “We need dedicated, good people elected into these positions.”

   Nominated senators for the commission include Tucker; Eric Bell, a senior political science major; Angelia Buford, a senior social work major; Yvonne Hinshaw, a junior political science major; and Jonathan Greenlee, a senior speech communication major. After Eric Bell moved to suspend the rules, he nominated Thomas as a nominee for the commission.

   Herring said the nominated commission members will be voted on by secret ballot at the next senate meeting Wednesday. Tucker said commission members may not run for an executive office and if their senate position comes up for reelection, they will have to be replaced.

   Tucker clarified the commission can set guidelines for the elections but they cannot contradict the current constitution.

   The senate voted in a new member, Jimmy Spurlin, a senior applied science major. Spurlin attended meetings before becoming a senator, and was voted in unanimously.

   The senate also voted on amendments presented at a past meeting where quorum had not been met, so no voting could take place.

   They discussed an amendment to correct typos in the senate bylaws, which passed. They also discussed an amendment, presented by Hinshaw, to create a secretary position in the senate. She said the secretary would help the clerk with their duties since the paperwork is too much for one person. The secretary would take care of all paperwork and duties outside senate meetings and the clerk would take care of all paperwork and duties in the senate meetings, according to Hinshaw.

   Bell asked if the resolution would do away with the clerk. Hinshaw said the clerk would still exist, but the secretary would help with the clerk’s duties.

   “This is going to be good,” Greenlee said. “All the paperwork can be shared between two people instead of one person getting snowed under every week.”

   Herring said she uses the clerk to take attendance at meetings, put together bill books from senators’ proposed resolutions and amendments and many more tasks.

   “It’s too much for one person,” Herring said. “It will be a good thing for two people to work on.”

   The resolution passed. The senate voted to make Hinshaw secretary by acclimation when no other senator was nominated.

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