Revisions to the Student Government Association have been finalized and are ready for a student vote.
The Constitution Revision Committee, a group made up of five members of the student government, started revisions earlier this semester when an SGA committee felt that the old constitution was not fully effective for Tech’s growing student body.
“It is always hard to anticipate future needs,” said Senator Nick Russell, College of Engineering. “We did out best to meet the needs of the students currently and for the future.”
The revised constitution changes the make up of the senate, including changing the number of freshman senators from four to eight, and changes the number of senators from each college. The old constitution stated that there be one senator for every 250 students in each college, and the new constitution states that there be one senator for every 350 students.
“The Constitution was in need of many revisions since it had not been updated in many years,” said SGA President Emily McDonald. “With the new revisions, SGA will continue to meet the current and future needs of the students.”
The revision also changes the minimum QPA from a 2.0 to a 2.5 for all branches of the SGA.
One of the biggest changes to the constitution was to the S.O.L.O. amendment, including a change made allocating the SGA fee that students pay each semester. Currently, of the $20 fee, $15 goes to the superfund, which pays for the S.O.L.O. concert and other major events on campus, and $5 to the general fund, which provides funding for student organizations.
The revisions change the distribution of the fee, giving $17 to the superfund and $3 to the general fund. This reallocation of funding will allow S.O.L.O. to bring bigger name artists to Tech in the future. In the former constitution, S.O.L.O. had a set rotation schedule that was replaced by a new system, which allows students to vote on the genre and the artist each semester.
“I just ask students to keep letting SGA know what changes you want to see on campus so we can keep working to make this a better place to go to school,” said Russell.
“SGA would like to get feedback from students so we can identify the needs of students so we can address them effectively,” said McDonald.
After passing through the SGA, the new constitution was sent to the Administrative Council where it was approved at a Nov. 12 meeting. The final step before the new constitution can take effect is the student vote, which is set to take place from Dec. 2 until Dec. 4.
“I hope the student body will vote to approve the changes to the SGA Constitution,” said McDonald.
