The amendments proposed by this year’s Student Association were ratified by the student body on Thursday, April 17.
SA President senior Tyler Gentry said the overall goal is to increase the effectiveness of communication.
The changes ratified for the SA constitution are adding direct international student representation within the senate and making adjustments to the panel of SA committees to better fit needs of the student body, including allowing each year’s SA to decide whether dorm representatives are needed that year. The SA also changed outdated language within the constitution.
SA Vice President senior Joseph McManus said the process to bring these amendments before the student body took a while because the SA senate had to first finalize what it hoped to see. After that, the senate had to meet several times with administration to help the administration understand the purpose and then come to an agreement on both sides. Gentry said the process got frustrating at times but turned out to better the constitution.
“Any time you’re dealing with multiple parties, (there are) going to be communication errors — it’s just something you gotta work through,” Gentry said. “I will say, I think we benefited from that because, ultimately, it allowed us to re-evaluate some things and make sure it was the best thing that we were doing.”
Dean of Students Zach Neal, whom McManus credits with offering several suggestions, said he saw communication as the best and most important part of the process.
“As far as affecting what happens next or affecting the future, I don’t think it’s specific to the constitution as much as it is an example that communication between administration and students exists,” Neal said.
Junior Zach White, incoming SA vice president, said he looks forward to having international student representation on the SA senate as well as a student committee specific to chapel.
“I just think that that’s going to be a really cool thing that we can have somebody that voices their opinions and helps us connect to them,” White said.
According to Gentry, the SA senate is using what is left of the semester to mentor the newly elected members as much as possible.
“It’s all about passing it down: passing down our ideas … passing down the projects that we’re currently waiting on or that we’re currently working on,” Gentry said. “A lot of what we wanted to establish by this constitutional change is continuation.”
McManus said the SA senate does not have a set schedule for meeting with new SA members but intends to make sure they are fully prepared and understanding of their roles. The senate also plans to have committee chairs and committee members selected by the end of the semester.
