Abby Knight
JSU News Bureau

October 30, 2002 -- On November 7th, Jacksonville State University students will have more to vote on than Homecoming Queen. They will also be voting on five amendments to the Student Government Association Constitution.

The amendments are the result of some “housekeeping” involving the SGA and the constitution, according to SGA President Robert Hayes.

Amendment #1 will change language in Article V, Section 5.6 of the Constitution. It states that “to appoint with approval of the Student Senate, chairpersons to each Senate standing committee, and ensure that each senator is an active member of no less that two standing committees.”

According to Hayes, the rule that requires each student senator to be on two committees is already in the code, but they are just adding it to the constitution.

Language in Article V, section 5 and section 6 are changed in Amendments #2 and #3. Amendment 2 states: “The SGA Vice President of Student Senate shall be elected by a majority vote of the student body at a general election under the qualifications as prescribed by the statute. The SGA Vice President of Student Senate shall have the following duties…” Amendment 3 is worded the same except the Vice President of Student Senate is replaced with Vice President of Student Activities Council.

The changes in these two amendments affects the titles of what are currently called the 1st and 2nd vice presidents. According to Hayes, the change of names was to eliminate the hierarchy mistakenly implied by the use of ordinal numbers. The name change also clarifies the responsibilities of each position.

Amendment #4 eliminates repetitive language in Article V, section 4. It states “The SGA President shall be elected by a majority vote of the student body at a general election under the qualifications as prescribed by statute. The SGA President shall have the following powers and duties…” The section as it stands currently states twice that the SGA President was elected at a general election.

Approval of Amendment #5 would make the biggest change to the current SGA government. If passed, the amendment would change the title of SGA controller to SGA vice president of organizational affairs. It would also add eight additional duties to the position. The change pertains primarily to assuming responsibility of the organizational council.

Previously, the controller had few duties other than allocation of funds, and there was a disparity of workload, said Hayes. This change creates more parity of work among the SGA executive board members.

The amendments had to be approved by the Student Senate before being presented to the student body for a general vote. Homecoming Queen elections and Amendment voting will take place on November 7 at the TMB from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the fourth floor.

“My biggest concern is that students won’t understand the amendments and will vote against them,” Hayes said.

For more information about the amendments, contact the Office of Student Activities at (256) 782 - 5491.