Monday's SGA meeting included executive updates on registration initiatives and future orders including a referendum to raise Student Activity Fees incrementally over the course of several years.
SGA President Jesse Westerhouse said the Office of the Provost had taken action to reduce the number of “TBA” slots appearing under courses during summer registration.
“As of a couple weeks ago, [the Office of the Provost] passed an academic code that requires professors to send in TBA’s that they have, and department heads to send in any TBA’s that exist and a reason for why they exist to go with it,” Westerhouse said. “Hopefully, over next semester, we’ll see a really sharp decrease in the number of TBA’s."
Westerhouse said this decrease will affect the development of the syllabus bank.
"That’s also gonna coincide with the syllabus bank," Westerhouse said. "If you don’t know who your professor is, you can look them up in the syllabus bank.”
Liberal Arts Senator and Code of Laws Committee Chair Cody Bass successfully passed an amendment to election law regarding Elections Board hearings, adjusting the requirement for accused parties or their representatives to be present at hearings.
The change passed Monday would allow Elections Board hearings to continue even if the accused party did not show up. The update would ensure that accused parties can't "boycott" their hearing and stall the process.
Sen. Reagan Drake, at large, objected to the amendment.
“My concern is that requiring the accusing party to show up at election violations … kind of seems like an intimidation factor, as if we’re keeping people from turning in violations because they have to face the people who they’re turning in violations about. It's almost like punishing people for looking for violations.” Drake said. “I just don’t see the merit in someone who is turning in a violation having to defend it.”
The update passed Monday would not affect the accusing party, though, Bass pointed out. It only affects the accused party, and leaves the language affecting the accusing party as-is.
The bill passed in a unanimous vote after Bass and other senators clarified the intent of the bill.
College of Business Senator and Budget and Finance Chair Dixon Simmons presented a referendum suggesting student activity fees be increased from $45 to $54 in the 2017-2018 academic year, as well as $3 a semester incrementally each year until the 2022-2023 academic year.
Simmons said SGA will not vote on the increase, but it will appear as a referendum on the 2017 SGA election ballots. The bill would bring a referendum before the student body during SGA elections in February.
Drake later proposed a resolution offering support for the University on improving campus environmental sustainability. The resolution supports improving indoor air quality and day lighting. It also suggests "water use reduction, green power and carbon off-setting/on-setting and recyclable materials collection receive particular priority in design and construction.”
Drake said these conditions would render construction products “LEED-certified” (LEED standing for Leadership Energy and Environment Drive).
“Auburn has a climate action plan that has a goal of being carbon-neutral by [2050],” Drake said. “A 2016 study from Harvard on cognitive ability showed that across nine functional domains students performed better in environmentally responsibly designed buildings.”
According to the study, students learn better in environmentally friendly buildings.
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