A student ticketing system appeals committee was voted into existence tonight by the Student Government Association.
The controversial student ticketing system put into effect this football season allocates penalty points to students who do not forfeit their tickets to the ticketing pool before missing a game. The Student Ticketing Appeals Committee was formed to determine if appeals to have these points revoked are valid.
Before the vote there was much debate on the wording of the bill. Graduate School Senator Max Zinner showed concern with section 1102.2.4 of the bill that stated, “three undergraduate students, appointed by the chairperson, will serve as voting members of the committee.” Zinner’s concern was the lack of graduate student representation this wording could create.
After several motions to change the number of committee members, rewording the bill to say “students” instead of “undergraduate students” and debate over giving the Graduate School potentially one-fifth of the vote, the Senate decided that the bill would include three undergraduate students and one graduate student as the voting members of the committee, with the vice chair breaking a tie.
“I think [the debate] was because our senators are doing their job,” EVP of Programs Faith Webb said. “They’re really making sure that students’ voices are heard, and they’re serving everyone whether that’s the 5 percent of graduate students who have those appeals or it’s the 95 percent of undergraduate students who also have appeals.”
After the unanimous vote for the committee to be formed, some senators had questions regarding their constituents’ concerns with the new ticketing system. SGA Advisor Brad Smith provided answers about why students can no longer sell their tickets or buy them piece by piece.
“If I was an athletics administrator I would be concerned about selling the games in individual pieces because that could negatively impact the attendance of students in the student section,” Smith said. “We should all be thankful for the privilege that it is to have a student section and have the opportunity to buy tickets at the price that athletics provides.”
The SGA also approved the new Academic Honesty Committee and several new government appointments. Executive members of SGA mentioned the recent sexual assault incident on campus and urged members of the Senate to bring any concerns they or their constituents had to them.
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