The Mississippi State University Student Association Senate held their last meeting of the semester Tuesday, and it was packed with 13 pieces of legislation, all passing with relative ease.
First, five resolutions were put to a vote.
Resolution 58, a tabled piece of legislation from the last meeting, promotes LGBTQ+ Safe Zone training completion for members of SA.
Resolution 60 congratulates the MSU women’s basketball team for their success in this past season.
Resolution 61 expresses student support for the proposed student presentations lab. The presentation lab would provide students a place to practice oral presentations and receive constructive criticism, similar to the Writing Center.
Resolution 62 supports the notion of adding more honors courses to MSU’s course list. Shackouls Honors College Dean Christopher Snyder said the original intentions of the honors college were to keep the number of honors courses proportional to the number of students in the honors college. However, the honors college has no power to force the nine major colleges to create honors courses. Therefore, the nine main colleges must create those courses on their own accord.
Resolution 63 supports the implementation of streetlights and a yellow line on Bardwell Road, intersecting with Blackjack Road near Aspen Heights.
Next, seven bills were put to a vote.
Bill 39 adds the ability for committee chairmen to table resolutions until proof of discussion with entities listed in the resolution has been provided.
Bill 41 rewords the SA Constitution to more accurately display the presently active committees, such as splitting Student Life and Athletics, and combining Sustainability and Capital Improvement.
Bill 42 adapts to the newly instituted GPA measurement in the ACCESS program to require an ACCESS senate seat candidate to have a 2.5 GPA to be considered for the position, rather than a letter of recommendation. Additionally, the election dates for the ACCESS seat was moved to April and November for the fall and spring term respectively.
Bill 43 inserts the requirement for 12 total days to be available for prospective SA candidates to submit their forms of intent to run for office. The timeline of events is now as follows: a week prior to the candidate interest meeting, the form application becomes available, and then a five-day period to fill out the application after the interest meeting.
Bill 44 adds the requirement for the SA Director of Marketing to post the Senate agenda, Judicial Council rulings and Senate Minutes to the SA website within one week of receiving them from the SA Secretary.
Bill 45 removes an unnecessary clause from the SA constitution which allowed directors and assistant directors to vote together as one voter in committees.
Bill 46 requires administrative privilege for OrgSync be removed from SA executives running for office before forms of intent are distributed.
Lastly, in terms of legislation, Act 17, an appropriations bill, allocated funds for student groups on campus, including Students for a Sustainable Campus and Saving Silhouettes.
Graduate School Senator Abdullah Sherif put forward Hunter Biram to be appointed as a fill for the vacancy left by Sherif’s graduation this spring. The motion to allow Biram to be appointed was passed, and he was added to the roll call.
Finally, Vice President Layton Little congratulated the 56th SA Senate for being the most productive legislature the SA has ever had and called for an official closing of the meeting. The motion was approved, and the last meeting of the 56th session of the SA Senate concluded.