The 51st legislature of Student Government Association (SGA) convened for the first time this academic year to confirm the Oxford continuee representative and two undergraduate representatives to the University Senate. All bills passed unanimously with 9 votes each. Last week, SGA passed a bill via email to update the Elections Code to reflect the SGA-GSGA split.
Speaker of the Legislature William Palmer (18C) introduced Bill 51sl17 to confirm Muhammad Naveed (17Ox, 19C) to serve as SGA’s Oxford Continuee Representative. The former representative, Aemin Kim (17Ox, 19C), took a leave of absence from the College.
SGA President Gurbani Singh (18B) highlighted Naveed’s previous experience as Oxford SGA president and noted that Kim recommended him for the position.
Bills 51sl18 and 51sl19 confirmed Michael Silver (20C) and Jalyn Radziminski (18C) as the two undergraduate representatives for the University Senate.
The University Senate is composed of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members and employees. It considers and makes recommendations about matters of University interest, reviews new policies and makes recommendations on honorary degree recipients, according to its website.
Singh and SGA Executive Vice President Natasha Armstrong (18B) highlighted Silver’s interest in promoting open expression at Emory.
“There is a lot of ambiguity [on campus] with open expression … [we] admire the fact that he planned that out as something that he wants to work on,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong talked about Radziminski’s campus work in diversity and inclusion, specifically with mental health and the students of color community. Both Bill 51sl18 and Bill 51sl19 were passed.
The executive vice president of the SGA, Armstrong, receives the first seat on the University Senate, according to the Code of Elections.
Last week, SGA passed Bill 51sl17 to update the SGA election procedure to reflect new voting platform technology and the February 2017 SGA-GSGA split into two autonomous branches.
Attorney General Elias Neibart (20C) proposed the amendment to the Election Code five days prior to fall elections.
Legislators had one day to review the bill and vote, and the voting ended Sept. 8 at 11:59 p.m.
Palmer wrote in an email to legislators six-and-a-half hours prior to the vote’s close that more votes were needed to reach quorum.
“Voting ends tonight and we do not have enough votes in,” Palmer wrote in all capital letters. “Abstentions mean you are choosing not to represent your constituents' voice in a vote.”
The amendment makes several changes to the Code of Elections, including the addition of a new article titled “General Election,” which reflects the post-split composition of SGA.
The bill allows Oxford College students to vote for the freshman and sophomore SGA representatives. OrgSync will now be used as the voting platform for elections instead of Student Voting Application (SVA), according to the bill. The student body no longer votes for the Student Programming Council (SPC) president and vice president.
Richard Chess contributed reporting.
