Ball State’s Student Government Association (SGA) held the first senate meeting after spring break March 12. The meeting started by welcoming Larry Gerstein, director of the university's Center for Peace and Conflict Studies who talked about Peace Plaza, a monument located between the College of Architecture and Planning and the Miller College of Business.
He said the goal of this plaza is to celebrate diversity while becoming a focal point on campus and in Muncie to commemorate past tragedies in the United States.
Originally, the monument was supposed to be nothing more than a singular pole representing Indiana, but through discussion, various questions were brought up, “Why don't we try to embrace the globe, and why don't we have something symbolic of each continent?”
Now, the monument will include eight poles, with the second pole representing Asia and the other poles representing six other countries.
Gerstein said that if anyone has further questions, they can reach out to him via email at lgerstein@bsu.edu.
RELATED: Center for Peace offers academic opportunities
Following Gerstein’s presentation, SGA held nominations for chief administrator and treasurer positions for the next school year. The nominees were: Sen. Philena Evett for chief admin and Sen. Caroline Emmrick for treasurer.
After the nominations, executive reports followed. President Noah Poole updated the senate about how he is working to make green spaces better on campus.
“[The executive board has had]conversations centered around providing more amenities in the existing green spaces on campus, such as hammock poles, park benches and picnic tables,” he said.
SGA then completed the unfinished business from the Feb. 26 meeting about the proposed five-dollar sustainability fee.
Sen. Jack Correa proposed an amendment for the fee, which was an option to opt out of the fee. He also proposed that instead of voting every five years, they would vote every two years in order to make it clear where the money will be going.
During the discussion, senators were given the opportunity to share their thoughts and rebuttal.
Senators made various points on the matter, such as how $15 can be a lot of money for some people.
Chair of the Community and Environmental Affairs Committee Sen. Natalie Walker ended the discussion by bringing up how $15 isn’t that big of a fee compared to other student fees.
“$5 a semester is much, much less than the other fees that are placed on students. The reason why I argued against that was that this would make long term changes much more difficult,” she said.
At-Large Sen. Lillie Day disagreed with Walker’s comment. Day saidBall State has a “high percentage of impoverished students,” and SGA shouldn’t put the fee on students, but rather, on the administration.
“It's important to think of a different way [to alleviate costs] that doesn't cost the students, especially because we go to a university where all the administrators make well over six figures a year,” she said. “... Pushing the burden that should be plac[ed] on administrators off onto the students is not something that we should be accepting of and something that we should just lay and let happen.” .
As the main author, Walker expressed the fee needing to be in place and defended its low cost, calling the $15 dollars “a drop in the bucket.”
The vote came to a tie, so SGA decided to break the amendment up in two parts: the option to opt out and the time frame. The whole amendment did not pass but certain parts did.
The two-year change was denied by a hand raise vote, and the option to opt out was approved.
A debate followed the voting on amendments.
Sen. Addy Morey, the whip for Community and Environmental Relations, voted for this piece of legislation.
“This is our world. We have to take care of it, and this is not just something for today, but this is a motion for tomorrow,” she said.
Organizational Sen. Uther Henderson also voted for this bill because he believes people are living in a world in a time of “climate collapse”. He also thinks it’s humans responsibility to care for the environment and if they don’t, the world will face many issues.
“We're just going to collapse even faster. More people are going to die,” Henderson said.
To the other senators that voted against it, Henderson noted how he disagrees with their points made, but mentions how he will draft similar legislation like this in the future.
After the discussion, the final vote was 14-17 with 4 abstentions. It was not passed.
Following the vote, there was a proposed amendment for updating the SGA Elections Code.
1. Elections Board
a. For a student to run for this position they must be in good standing and be a full time student.
2. Dates and Times of Elections
a. Voting will be held online ran by the Office Student Life
b. If a no confidence ticket wins the election will be restarted.
3. Eligibility Requirements
a. Executive positions must meet these requirements; full-time student,have a GPA of 2.8 and must have completed at least three semester.
b. Senate positions must meet these requirements; have a 2.5 GPA and be in good stand
4. Nomination Procedure
a. The spring election times are due on the fourth Friday in the Spring semester by 4:00 p.m.
b. Nomination convention is held on or before the fourth Tuesday of the Spring semester.
c. The voting will occur on the seventh Monday and Tuesday during the Spring semester
d. Polls are opened at 8 a.m. and close at 5 p.m.
e. Winners will be announced within 24 hours
5. Debate Procedures
a. If only one executive ticket runs unopposed, the elections board can cancel the debates if wanted.
b. Debates shall last no more than one hour.
6. Manner of Elections
a. The Elections Board Sheriff is the one responsible for enforcing campaign rules and dealing with fines
b. Max fine for violations is 20% of the campaign spending limit
c. If the candidate’s fines exceed this limit the person will be disqualified
d. Students can file election violations up to 48 hours after results are certified
e. Any appeals for any penalties must be submitted within 72 hours to the Student Judicial Court.
7. Campaign Regulations
a. Executive funding for the campaign can not go over $2,000
b. Senate funding can not go over $250
c. Can not campaign the day of
d. Expenses must be reported to the election board within 24 hours.
e. Can not use SGA resources
Contact Shelby Anderson via email at sanderson9@bsu.edu.
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