During SGA's weekly meeting, senators discussed the completion of the syllabus bank, as well as a bill prohibiting students from serving on both senate and cabinet simultaneously.
EVP of Initiatives Trey Fields gave an update on the status of the long-running syllabus bank project.
“We got an email last night that the syllabus bank is pretty much finished,” Fields said. “We’ll be previewing that next Monday.”
In a 25-8 majority, Senators Cody Bass and Jacqueline Keck passed a bill preventing any individual student from serving in both senate and cabinet at the same time.
Despite the majority vote, the bill was subject to discussion amongst the senators, including College of Business Senator Reed Adams.
“I’d just like to echo a concern expressed earlier that this bill may prevent the most qualified people from getting positions in cabinet just because they’re already serving in senate,” Adams said.
Graduate School Senator Benjamin Arnberg responded to Adams’ grievance with the bill.
“This bill provides us the infrastructure that if a senator is doing a bad job in their office, they do not have the ability to extend that to multiple positions,” Arnberg said. “It is absurd that on a campus with 27,000 people, we can’t find enough qualified people to fill 100 slots for cabinet and senate.”
Student Affairs and Engineering Senator Sarah Grace Mitchell said the bill was not presented properly, and it should directly address diversity issues rather than infrastructure.
“I think this is an outreach issue, and we need to select more people who more effectively represent all corners of this student body,” Mitchell said. “This is like putting a band-aid on a building where the foundation is cracked.”
Erin Walker, director of political outreach for SPECTRUM, used open floor time to argue in favor of the bill’s efficacy in terms of diversity.
“I spoke to my constituents and most of them were surprised that a rule like this did not exist in SGA to begin with,” Walker said. “I’m in support of this bill because I think it would be a great opportunity to improve your relations with not only the heads of diversity but the diverse students of Auburn in general.”
College of Business Senator Frank McEwen unsuccessfully proposed an amendment to the bill suggesting the rule could be overruled in the event of both a two-thirds majority and the signature of the SGA President. The bill ultimately passed unaltered.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
