The Student Government Association at Elon University recently amended its constitution and bylaws to afford more power to the Senate, increase the efficiency of the organizational council and correct structural and grammatical discrepancies. The student body will vote on the amendments May 15.
Several of the proposed amendments clarify and expand the responsibilities of the senators and council liaisons. They require senators on the at-large council to regularly report the sentiments of their constituents to the Senate. The at-large council liaison must coordinate the efforts of the council and present a plan to the Senate at the beginning of each academic year.
“There was too much of a top-down power structure,” said SGA Executive President Welsford Bishopric. “The executives are here to direct the Senate, but they are supposed to be autonomous of us. Last semester, it became apparent how much that separation matters. The amendments ensure all councils are at the purview of their elected leadership.”
Other amendments support the new organizational cluster system, revised this summer to ensure each student organization has adequate representation in the SGA. The constitution was amended to reflect the interests of 15 clusters, from competition-centered organizations to those that promote religious and spiritual cohesion.
“The university has been pushing to make the organizational council more effective,” Bishopric said. “First of all, it didn’t have any real authority over the funding structure, and some of the clusters just didn’t make sense. The clusters didn’t allow for new trends to emerge and didn’t account for the real focus of a lot of student organizations. The changes reflect the synthesis of some clusters and even the creation of a new cluster, notably the professional cluster.”
An amendment to the SGA bylaws mandates a one-week waiting period between the introduction of new legislation and the Senate’s voting session. Prior to the amendment, the waiting period was two weeks.
“There were not a whole bunch of changes made to the bylaws, but the most important change made the waiting process a lot shorter,” said freshman John Crowder, SGA senator for the Elon College of Arts and Sciences. “The student body has a lot of needs, and the least we can do is make things a little bit faster.”
Crowder served on the ad hoc committee that examined the constitution and bylaws and debated possible changes.
“The amendments put the power with the Senate, where it belongs,” Crowder said. “It ensures senators are going out and getting things accomplished through the week. In previous Senates there were a lot of workhorses and then a few show horses who got to smile and get votes. This changes how the Senate operates and makes sure everyone does their fair share.”