Ball State’s Student Government Association (SGA) passed new student policies in their meeting Feb. 16, along with voting on two new senators.
The Student Rights, Ethics and Standards Committee proposed four new policies. Mike Gillian, the director of student conduct, presented the policies to SGA.
The four proposed policies were about guest speakers and guest lecturers invited on campus, along with the commercial and non-commercial activity on campus. These policies dealt with students’ first amendment rights.
The policies passed 24-4 with one abstention.
Two students applied for the Science/Humanities Chair for the Collegiate Caucus: Jimmy Mitchell and Senator Andy Hopkins.
This was Mitchell’s first time getting involved with SGA. He is a junior who changed his major from music education to philosophy. His previous major didn’t allow him to have the time to get involved with SGA.
Mitchell is also a second year Residence Assistant at Thomas J. Kinghorn Hall, and the vice president of the Spanish club and the communications for Ball State’s Business Professionals of America chapter.
Mitchell wants to focus on student safety and to have more University Police Department outreach.
Hopkins, who was previously on the At-Large Caucus, applied for the position to focus his attention on representing students.
“I’m interested in changing caucuses because, so far, the struggle for me in the At-Large Caucus was that I am basically representing the entire college, which is a pretty diverse set of people and having a more narrow set of people to represent benefits me because then I know more of what to work with and where to start,” Hopkins said.
Mitchell was voted in 20-4 with three abstentions.
Freshman telecommunications major Nicolas Barham applied for the At-Large Caucus. Barham, if voted into SGA, wanted to improve campus safety.
“I don’t trust this campus when it’s dark out,” Barham said. “I don’t trust it for my friends and the people that I care about, and if there’s any way I could improve that, even just a little bit, I think it’d be worth it.”
Barham was voted in 28-0.
Senator Brenna Large spoke for the Student Services Committee for a budget request of $561.27. The request is for their St. Patrick’s Day event on March 17. The event will be a “grab-and-go” event at the scramble light from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Two amendments were voted on in the meeting: the elimination of the archivist position amendment and the standardization of the Collegiate Caucus amendment.
The elimination of the archivist position amendment proposed to remove the archivist position from the cabinet. The responsibilities of the archivist will be transferred to the Rules and Constitution Committee and the Parliamentarian.
The archivist maintained and organized the archives of SGA. This included transferring SGA archives to the Ball State Archives and acting as an archival resource for senators.
The amendment passed 27-0 with two abstentions.
The second amendment proposed to standardize the requirements for applying for the Collegiate Caucus. The amendment will also add the Teachers College to the caucus and remove the College of Applied Sciences and Technology.
The amendment passed 27-0 with two abstentions.
One amendment was introduced, the establishment of a permanent partnership with dining services. The amendment was written in response to SGA Vice President Chiara Biddle forming a relationship with dining services in the 2021-22 school year.
If passed, the amendment would have the Secretary of Environmental Affairs, and Chair of Environmental and Community Affairs serve on the Dining Advisory Board and will meet with the director of dining regularly. The Advisory Board serves as a direct line of communication between the student body and dining services.
The amendment will be voted on at the next meeting, March 2.
Contact Hannah Amos with comments at hannah.amos@bsu.edu or on Twitter @Hannah_Amos_394.
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