SGA introduced various new legislation asking for improvement of student Wi-Fi, removal of his/her pronouns for inclusiveness and healthier food options in the Dunn Center during the April 5 SGA meeting.
Senators also voted against two bills introduced the previous week, including Sen. Rebecca Jacks’ Act No. 16, which called for a mandated dress code for SGA meetings. The bill was tabled during initial discussion, but Jacks rejected the tabling near the end of the session, calling for an immediate vote. The bill failed with only five votes of support. Jacks’ main counterpoint was a defense against any possible liability.
“This is to avoid liability for sexual harassment. Especially if we aren’t moving to uniforms,” Jacks said. She raised a hypothetical situation with a male president addressing improper dress of a female SGA member.
Counterarguments from Sens. Colin Crist and Dominic Critchlow included reasons such as bringing extra clothing to school and the frequency of laundry being done.
Sen. Haley Palmeri’s, Act No. 15 also failed in a 7-18 vote. The bill called for paper agendas to be provided for all SGA members. Agendas are currently emailed to every member and laptops are available to senators during SGA meetings.
Dean of Students Gregory Singleton commented on the progress of SGA elections. Since senators voted to extend elections last week in response to a lack of applicants, Singleton provided an update on the election.
“As of 4:57 p.m., we had a total of 589 votes,” Singleton said. “That is our lowest in nine years.”
Singleton expanded on those numbers by citing totals from previous years. In 2016, there were 924 votes, with 1,079 in 2015 and 782 in 2014. APSU has 10,344 students enrolled, as of Fall 2016.
Singleton and President Ryan Honea personally congratulated Crystal Wallenius on her appointment to the APSU Board of Trustees as the student representative. Wallenius started the SGA meeting with a few words and asked senators to bring student concerns to her in order to properly represent the student body to the board.
Sen. Sarah Alexander introduced two pieces of legislation that call for the removal of his/her pronouns from SGA and APSU, and the requirement of all SGA senators to serve on at least one active committee during their terms. Alexander’s legislation is meant to make language used at APSU sensitive to those who do not identity as male or female.
Sen. Ella Weiss introduced Act. No. 19, which calls for daily “Gov Says” emails to students to include information on SGA meetings every Wednesday.
Sen. Amber James’ Resolution No. 33 calls for improvements to the APSU Wi-Fi network for student residence halls. James also introduced legislation that would call for more healthy food options inside the Dunn Center.
SGA meets every Wednesday at 5 p.m. in MUC 307.
