The student government amendment to require RSO representation in the general assembly of student government will not go into effect.
Due to a contradiction of the student government governing document, the Rules of Appropriation and Allocation (RAA) and the student government constitution, the amendment requiring student government RSO representation is void.
According to Student Government Public Relations Specialist Carman Plank, the RAA states all opinions of the finance division are supposed to come from the director of finance. The constitution states amendments must have approval from the finance division as a whole.
On Dec. 3, the student government Director of Finance Noah Moss presented the amendment created by senator Joe Letavis to the general assembly. Since Moss read the amendment, it was assumed the finance division approved the amendment, according to Plank. The entire finance division was against the amendment, according to Moss. Technically the amendment should have never gotten to the general assembly.
“[The constitution] supersedes the RAA,” Plank said. “The Constitution and Bylaw Review task force that just started are going through all of the governing documents, including the constitution, the RAA, the mandate of internal assessment, everything, and making sure that they are all cohesive. There have been some other parts that haven’t been as clear and concise as we would like them to be.”
The amendment, originally passed on Dec. 3, required RSOs without a member in the general assembly of student government to be restricted to receiving 35 percent per line item of their requested travel funding from the finance division. Previously, RSOs received 50 percent per line item for travel funding.
According to Plank, four students came to student government to represent their RSO because of the amendment. Plank said the Board of Trustees announced student government has grown 20 percent in members since last semester.
“I think that a lot of what you get from student government is what you give,” Student Government Director of Internal Assessment Kelsey Beson said.
This contradiction was not determined until the student government meeting on Feb. 18 when the amendment was in question for procedural issues. The amendment required majority vote, which it had not received when passed in December. The amendment was up for discussion and revote on Feb. 18 when the issue between the RAA and constitution arose.
At the end of the semester, student government will have the opportunity to bring up new changes and amendments to its governing document when a new student government president is elected.
“I think it [the amendment] will definitely be brought up again,” Plank said. “[In December] it was brought up suddenly. This year I think we [student government] will work out all of the kinks and logistics before it’s brought up again. It would be brought up to the finance division to see if they approve.”
Students in RSOs may still request up to 50 percent per line item for travel allocations from the finance division for this semester.