At its hybrid in-person and Zoom meeting March 31, Ball State’s Student Government Association (SGA) introduced five new amendments.

One amendment is a revision of a proposal to abolish executive slates, which was originally introduced at the Feb. 17 meeting.

The amendment proposes to change how SGA executive members are elected to office. Currently, students vote for a four-person slate each election season. If the amendment passes, presential and vice presidential candidates will run on an executive ticket together and treasurer and chief administrator positions will be voted on by the senate.

The original amendment suggested all executive members run individually on separate tickets. President Pro Tempore Dylan Lewandowski, who endorsed the March 31 amendment, said he consulted with SGA senators to learn Ball State is the only school in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) that requires four people to run together as a slate for office.

Senators also looked over an amendment introducing a formal system to elect a president pro tempore. The amendment proposes to require all presidents pro tempore serve at least three semesters in SGA befre being elected. The authors, Lewandowski, Amy Wyse and Sabrina Fullenkamp, argued having an official process will ensure candidates can fulfill all requirements for the role. 

The president pro tempore serves on the executive council, helps creates agendas for each senate meeting and conducts new senator orientation.

Senator Grant Wilson introduced an amendment that will, if passed, provide standing committee chairs with the ability to remove members if they are negatively impacting the efficiency or productivity of the committee. 

“The productivity of standing committees can [be], and often is, impeded by members who do not attend senate meetings or do not work on committee assignments,” Wilson wrotein the amendment.

Also at the meeting, senator Trent McKenzie introduced an amendment that will provide committee members the opportunity for more communication with the finance committee on budget requests, if passed.

McKenzie argued it would benefit the finance committee and senators submitting budget requests if they conferred before presenting a PowerPoint slide to the rest of senate.

McKenzie also introduced an amendment requiring senators to submit amendments to legislation before senate meetings. He argued amendments to legislation are difficult to understand in senate meetings, so bringing amendments to the parliamentarian beforehand will make them easier to understand.

Finally, senators voted 35-1 with three abstentions to pass the amendment regarding the distribution of graduation cords for SGA members. The amendment requires students be members of the senate for at least three semesters before earning cords.

All five amendments introduced will be voted on at the April 7 Zoom meeting.

Contact Mackenzie Rupp with comments at msrupp@bsu.edu or on Twitter at @kenzieer18. Contact Maya Wilkins with comments at mrwilkins@bsu.edu or on Twitter @mayawilkinss.

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