The Student Government Association (SGA) held its first public meeting last week since Shippensburg University moved classes online. 

After taking the past weeks to organize internal affairs and prepare for changes to come next semester, SGA members held their first public meeting over Zoom. During the meeting, members began the process to update SGA’s constitution and provided updates from committees. 

Sen. Nora Ormsbee, the college of arts and sciences’ representative, made a motion to amend the SGA constitution which Sen. Josh Bream seconded. The motion passed with 17 votes in favor and one against.

“The document is a culmination of hours of meetings, discussions and work to be the one that will reflect not only our current government but also the future ones,” Ormsbee said. 

Before the proposed changes will be made official, SU students have the opportunity to review the revisions. On April 23, students received an email with the revisions to the constitution by email. This gave students a week to review the constitution before they could vote starting this Thursday. The ballot did not include a copy of the constitution when the SGA sent it to students. 

Many of the proposed revisions are edits made for clarity, and represent modifications to the roles of senators and officers. The student trustee position is proposed to become a "non-voting, ex-officio" member of SGA. Additionally, the proposal is changing the GPA qualification from 2.0 to 2.3 for officers, senators and those holding seats in SGA.

The names of several groups that interact with SGA have been updated and the proposed changes will update them in the constitution as well as make minor changes to names of groups within SGA. 

Details for the process of applying to become an SGA officer were added under article 4 which deals with elections. This lays out which members have the power to nominate officers, as well as how applicants need to apply and other parties that need to weigh in on the decision. 

Other significant changes include the addition of details for passing motions during emergency situations and the addition of the sustainability committee. 

The second motion for constitutional amendment involved the extension of the current term for all members of SGA. This allows the current government to vote on the upcoming constitutional changes instead of leaving it for the incoming 2020-21 government. 

This will also allow the current government to stay involved with the budget discussions, Ryan Gandy, who represents Greek life said.  

Chase Slenker, class of 2023 senator, proposed the motion which waives Article 4 Section 2 and Article 6 Section 2 for the 2019-20 academic year. The motion passed with majority vote and extends terms until May 8. 

Other orders of business included a proposal from Sen. Rob Giulian, class of 2022 representative, to go to the Budget and Finance Committee to approve placing a sign in the academic quad for the Raider Way Initiative. The sign will have “The Raider Way”' printed on it and is meant to help continue the initiative through image, Giulian said. 

The Raider Way Initiative works to encourage unity and community on campus and create a culture of inclusion, according to Isaac Dietrich, who has spearheaded the Raider Way initiative and SGA vice president of internal affairs.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article stated the student trustee position will be a voting member of the Student Government Association under the proposed constitution. This has been changed to reflect the fact the student trustee position will be an "ex-officio, non-voting" member of the SGA. 

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