During the Sept. 28 Student Government Association (SGA) meeting, the organization voted on an agreement about the recent proposed changes to the constitution. 

At the previous meeting on Sept. 14, members voted to approve changes to the SGA constitution. The changes were published to the student body on Sept. 18.

Since then, SGA received constructive criticism from Slate staff and students who expressed concerns after seeing the proposed amendment. Responding to these concerns, SGA President Harun Pacavar announced a decision to postpone the amendment moving forward to a vote by the student body. 

In an email sent out to the student body on Sept. 22, Pacavar announced that SGA will “take a few weeks to make changes, seek input from others and will then move the Constitution forward again.”

It is not abnormal to change parts of the Constitution, as it has gone through 20 revisions since 1962. However, the most recently proposed amendment has been questioned.

In his remarks, Pacavar announced that SGA would be voting on the creation of a Constitution Amendment Committee.  

Soon after, Ian Thompson, who served as the Commuter Student Senator from 2020–2022, spoke on the constitutional revisions and asked for more transparency from SGA during changes to the constitution. 

Thompson told members of SGA,“I want to ensure that any change made to it is for the better, and not just sort of making the lives of those in SGA easier.” 

Thompson also asked that SGA vote during the meeting to form the ad-hoc committee Pacavar had mentioned earlier by doing a vote, of which they did.

Directing a question toward SUSSI Executive Director Kim Rockwell, Thompson questioned whether the university’s increased enrollment would have an impact on activity fees. Rockwell replied saying the additional revenue would go to help reduce the $328,000 deficit, but there might be opportunities in the future for student groups to submit additional allocation requests. However, Rockwell stated that there are numerous factors to be considered before any permanent funding decisions can be made. 

Afterward, SGA heard from SU Associate Vice President of Retention and Student Success Jennifer Haughie. Haughie oversees SU’s Raider Retention program. The Raider Retention program works with students who need help with staying on top of schoolwork. Haughie and her team watch closely over students’ attendance and grades and reach out to those that might need it.

Haughie encouraged all students to come for any sort of problem they may have, academic or not. Haughie described the retention program as a one-stop shop where you can walk in with a problem and walk out with a solution. Her goal is to “create an environment that can answer any questions.”

Afterward, the Activities Programming Board (APB) representative and president Nicole Baumgardner reported the attendance of recent APB events. Then, student media representative Jenna Cornell updated SGA about media improvements and successes. She reported over 30 new shows joining the WSYC radio station.  

SGA will hold its next meeting on Oct. 12 at 4 p.m. in CUB 119.

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