Editor's note: An earlier version of this article said the McKinley Avenue Agency provides funding for Unified Media Services. It has been corrected to say the McKinley Avenue Agency provides funding for Unified Media.
On Jan. 27, the Ball State Student Government Association (SGA) held its weekly meeting over Zoom and voted on a new elections board coordinator and the approval of new Rules and Constitution Committee appointments.
President Connor Sanburn also presented a veto on the approved partnership between Ball State University and Rent College Pads.
The resolution was introduced at the Dec. 2, 2020 meeting, and would allow the Rent College Pads corporation to enter a contracted partnership with Ball State University to create a housing website to aid students in finding off-campus housing.
The senators approved the partnership at the Dec. 9, 2020 meeting.
RELATED: Ball State SGA passes Rent College Pads resolution
Sanburn chose to veto this partnership primarily because of the opportunities it would take away from students. Sanburn said Ball State has a catalog similar to Rent College Pads called the Roost, operated through the McKinley Avenue Agency, which directly provides funding for Unified Media.
“The big issue I had with this was that if I were to allow this by signing the resolution, we’d essentially be stamping our name of approval by allowing Rent College Pads to host a similar service on our campus to access the same branding resources our student employees have,” Sanburn said.
Sanburn also chose to veto the partnership because of the legally binding language in the resolution, feeling it was a discussion Rent College Pads should have with the university and not SGA.
“With the resolution containing legally binding language, it just couldn’t move forward because our organization doesn’t have the power to write legally binding legislation or to make decisions for other departments,” Sanburn said.
The senators agreed with Sanburn’s decision to veto the resolution, and approved it 32-1, with two abstentions.
SGA also voted on the approval of senators John Wilcox, Davis Odom, Amy Wyse and Sabrina Fullencamp to the Rules and Constitution Committee, which is something Parliamentarian Chase Braden said the committee “is supposed to already be doing.”
“Like I said at the beginning when I was first approved, that under my tenure as Parliamentarian, we would return to following the rules and bylaws,” Braden said.
The Rules and Constitution Committee appointments were approved 32-1, with one abstention.
SGA also approved the appointment of new elections board debate coordinator Cory Balkenbush 31-0, with three abstentions.
Balkenbush served as an adviser to the Board of Historic Fort Wayne, which he said gave him experience with planning and coordinating events.
SGA is planning on having bi-weekly in-person meetings this semester, with the first in-person meeting next week, Feb. 3. Senators can choose to attend the meeting in-person or via Zoom.
Contact Maya Wilkins with comments at mrwilkins@bsu.edu or on Twitter @mayawilkinss.
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