SGA works to foster accountability
October 11, 2007 by Claire Miller
Filed under News
Through lengthy debates and special senate meetings, the Student Government Association is working under President Katy Bowers to change its constitution to affect member accountability.
The senate approved all amendments at Tuesday’s special meeting. The student body will vote Oct. 29 through Nov. 2 on OASIS to approve the changes, said Attorney General Justin Shepherd.
Shepherd, who has been working on the amended constitution since he came to the University in Fall 2006, proposed several new changes, including a rule that students running for treasurer must be on a ticket with a presidential and a vice presidential candidate.
“We wanted to bring more accountability and let students choose who will be handling the finances,” Shepherd said.
The new constitution also includes a supreme court.
SGA CONSTITUTION CHANGES
The treasurer now will be an elected official who runs on the ticket with the presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
A judicial branch has been added, which will “hear alleged violations of the Constitution and . the Code of Ethics” and will determine whether rules and policies passed by SGA are constitutional, according to the document.
The office of secretary has been split into the executive secretary, who will take attendance and create the agenda for Senate meetings, and the press secretary, who will be in charge of issuing news releases and coordinating SGA news conferences.
The Senate now will include a graduate student senator for every 2,000 graduate students at the University.
The judicial branch will “hear alleged violations of the Constitution and . the Code of Ethics.” If passed, it also will determine whether rules and policies passed by SGA are constitutional, according to the document.
“(The Supreme Court will) be hearing charges like misappropriation of funds … and we’ll be handling absence review. Senators have a set number of absences from meetings, and if they exceed that number, we’ll determine if they are fit to stay in office,” said Katie McCabe, the chief judicial officer for SGA.
McCabe will become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court if the student body approves the amendments.
“Creating a judicial branch will make all members of SGA more accountable, and if SGA can be more accountable, then we’ll be able to serve the student body better,” McCabe said.
SGA began revising the constitution in the 2006-2007 Jamie Peper and Matt Suber administration when a committee was formed to review and amend the document, Shepherd said.
“The reason we wanted to change (the constitution) was because it’s 20 years old,” Shepherd said. “There are a lot of things that have changed at UGA and we wanted to make sure the constitution reflected those changes.”
