Holding office in student government may get easier if the Student Senate has its way.
The president and vice president of the Student Government Association will only have to maintain a C+ average (or a 2.85 GPA) instead of the current B- (or a 3.0 GPA), if a proposed constitutional amendments passes.
Senators also voted to lower their own academic standards as well. Those members will only have to maintain an overall GPA of 2.5 instead of the current 2.75.
These are only two of a wave of referendums sweeping SGA after the SHIFT party gained control in late March.
While senators have campaigned for these lower standards for more than two years, the student body will only get the chance to vote on them Monday.
Some say the change will allow more students to participate in student government and keep some elected senators from stepping down from their positions. Every year, some senators are forced to resign due to low grades.
Opponents of the change say that student senators should be held to high standards and that a 2.75 GPA is just a minimum to be participating in extracurricular activities.
“I didn’t vote for that change, and I am highly against it,” Ali Kingston SGA speaker said. “We are setting the example for the whole student body and leading the University, so I think our GPA should always be higher than what the average students’ is.”
The proposal also calls for the creation of a new treasurer position and a clarification of the student court role in the officer removal process.
Charles Uffelman, along with other members of the constitution committee, worked on the proposals last semester before they were presented to the senate. The senate then voted on the proposals in early March.
“This bill has been something we have working on for quite a while. There have been a lot of changes made and I think the GPA requirement is the least important one,” Uffelman said. “Adding a treasurer is definitely the biggest and most important change made to the constitution.”
A treasurer would help regulate the expenditures made, Uffelman said.
“Having someone full-time to be a treasurer would be able to keep everything clear and make sure that we are running funds property,” Kingston said. “But that position has not been approved yet by the student body, and they have the ability to say no. I see an argument for both sides and I am interested to see how the University responds.”
Student Mariah Marlowe, a sophomore, said she is worried too few students will vote on the referendums to render an accurate response from the University. Only 11 percent of eligible voters participated in the SGA election in March, and there is no indication the voting percentage will increase this time around.
“Most students don’t realize these are the people who have the power to make decisions for us,” she said. “The SGA is a powerful group of people. If they are allowing us to vote on things like this, we definitely need to take advantage of it.”
*In the print edition of this story we misattributed Ali Kingston vice president of the Student Government Association. She is actually the speaker of the senate.
