2008 Woodie Awards
SGA amends housing bill, considers new vp position
Matt Rysavy
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The Student Government Association convened for their first senate meeting of the semester last night.
The senators kept busy since they met last. They brought to the table an ample number of administrative bills they receive every semester, but also a bill to amend last semester's housing enterprise and some ideas concerning the future representation of senators.
Allied Health Senator Teresa Gabhart resubmitted an amendment to the new housing bill to give the Department of Housing and Residence Life SGA's approval to consolidate squatters who have not filled vacant spaces in their apartments by a determined date. During the last housing process, there were 22 unfilled apartments occupied by squatters in Marchetti alone. The bill will allow residence life the jurisdiction to join some of these squatters in the same room to open their spaces to groups looking to live together.
Gabhart initially proposed the amendment last semester during debate over the major housing changes. Though the amendment received a majority of the senators' votes-26 out of 40 approved of the change-it did not receive the two-thirds vote necessary to pass with the housing bill. Resubmitted last night, the bill passed.
The idea was backed by Director of Housing and Residence Life Argyle Wade, who stated that because of lone squatters, most open apartments are usually taken in the first day or two of housing sign-up. He thought it was a fair measure, saying, "If you didn't pull anyone in, you'd be stuck with strangers anyway."
Maria Rozier, administrative vice president, agreed, affirming, "Students will know ahead of time what their options are." She, along with other senators, argued that the amendment would better the greatest number of people by allowing many to move together into the spaces that few occupied themselves.
The amendment will take effect with the bill passed last semester that, among many things, will allow only those with four or more semesters to live in apartments, squat and be pulled in. The amendment also does not allow students who were once pulled in to pull in others.
After passing their bills, SGA opened last night with a discussion proposed by the executive board about the current board positions available for election this semester. President Adam Meister suggested to the senate the creation of a new position-a Vice President of Social Justice.
The current seven-member executive board consists of the President, Executive, Academic, Financial and Administrative Vice Presidents, Black Student Alliance President and International Student Federation President.
The exact roles of a Vice President of Social Justice have yet to be determined, though this person would chair the Social Justice Committee established last semester, and currently maintained by BSA President Andrew Chappelle and ISF President Chidi Ogbonna.
Instituting the new VP position would ideally create a forum for social justice issues that appear on campus. It would also emphasize the importance of social justice issues for students at SLU. While SGA did not all agree that the VP position was the best way to do this-should the position be elected or appointed by the senate and what should it control?-most agreed that social justice was a prevalent topic.
The executive board noted that many other Jesuit universities have created similar positions, as social justice is becoming of the Jesuit mission. Father Barry, who regularly begins SGA meetings with a prayer, suggested that the position should be renamed Vice President of Faith and Justice, as the two ideals are so related in SLU's mission.
In discussions affecting the organization of SGA's executive board, questions about the roles of BSA and ISF presidents on executive board also surfaced.
Phil Lyons explained that their positions have existed since before there was a senate and called them "sub-SGAs," with the Association of Parks College Students and Business School Governing Assembly, who have control over large groups of people.
In their long discussion, the senate came to no conclusions. Change was only suggested to the senate for debate and generation of new ideas at last night's meeting.
The proposed changes may not even affect next year's executive board because the forms to run for a position are due Jan. 31. Bringing the issue to light, however, can allow SGA to continue to stimulate conversation on the topic.
Keep them informed with your opinions with a letter to SGA@SLU.EDU.