The Student Government Association approved the long-debated Bill 49-11 “Student Ambassador Program” at its March 15 meeting.
The Student Ambassador Bill aims to increase the representation of each academic school at IU Southeast in the SGA.
The bill proposes to accomplish this by establishing a committee for each school that will be chaired by an SGA member.
It will also include at least two other students who are members of the respective schools.
The committees will be responsible for arranging meetings with the deans of their respective schools.
They will also be tasked with holding open meetings at least once a month for students of the schools in order to bring their concerns to the committees’ attention as well as reporting those concerns and problems to the SGA body at-large.
Stephon Moore, political science and journalism freshman and SGA press secretary, expressed concern that the deans of each school had not been consulted about the bill at the time the bill was voted on.
Moore said he was worried the creation of the committees might step on the toes of existing academic committees, such as the IUS Student Nurses’ Association.
Stephen Prather, radiography junior, SGA pro-tempore and the bill’s co-sponsor, said he believed the deans should be consulted before the bill goes into full effect in fall 2012.
However, Prather said the bill was strong enough to merit passage without prior consultation with the deans.
Drew Appel, criminal justice freshman and SGA technology officer, said he believed the bill was a step forward, even if the deans had not been consulted.
“From a student’s perspective, what is the downfall of this bill?” Appel said. “We’re not consulting with the students that much now, so anything is better than what we have now.”
Josh Kornberg, communications senior and SGA president, voiced his concern over the nature of the representation that would occur as a result of the bill’s passage.
“I struggle with the idea of representing the student body through committee work,” Kornberg said. “Committee work is not the most effective representation.”
The SGA also unanimously passed Bill 49-17 “IU Southeast Student Government Association Officer Salaries.”
The bill was co-authored by Prather and Kornberg.
The goal of the bill is to reduce the SGA president’s salary allotment by 16 percent.
It also redistributes that allotment more equitably among nine other SGA officer positions.
During the meeting, Kornberg urged SGA members to vote in the SGA elections.
He also encouraged them to gain votes from their fellow students, as well.
The SGA elections will open at midnight on March 20. Students will be alterted of the voting process by receiving an electronic ballot to their IUS e-mail addresses.
Voting will remain open for students until 4 p.m. on March 22. The election results will also be announced that day at the SGA meeting.
By AMANDA BROWN
Staff
anb4@umail.iu.edu
