SGA passes two bills, a program
Quorom not made to eliminate chief of staff
By Rachana Dixit, news editor
Posted on April 13, 2006

The Student Senate had its last meeting of the currently elected senators and Executive Council Tuesday, beginning discussion on a constitutional amendment regarding the chief of staff position, passing one contingency bill and donating two program grants to organizations.

Senator Geary Cox (Sr.) proposed a constitutional amendment that would eliminate the SGA’s Chief of Staff position and instead transfer that position’s duties to the vice president of administrative affairs. Currently, the Chief of Staff serves as a liaison between SGA’s executive staff and executive council.
           
“This is a redundancy we are trying to eliminate,” Cox said. “This cuts out the middle man, an egregious disconnect between the executive council and executive staff.”

Senator Robert Burden (So.) agreed with Cox.

“I see the chief of staff as an unnecessary liaison between officers and staff,” he said.

However, the current chief of staff, junior Betsy Anderson, said the duties might be too much for one person to handle.

“It’s going to overload them too much,” Anderson said. She also added, “There could be a conflict of interest.”

The bill was not further debated due to the senate not meeting quorum. At yesterday’s meeting, 45 senators were present. The body needs 49 senators present in order to debate and decide whether an amendment should be passed. This is the fourth time this year that the senate has been unable to meet quorum.

In other affairs, Senator Cory Winter (Sr.) reported that last week, the finance committee voted whether to recommend an Intervarsity contingency bill to the senate.

With two in favor, one against and two abstaining from voting, a majority of voting members was not achieved.

However, during Tuesday’s meeting, IV members Tim Drummond and Laura Boyer, both juniors, implored the senate to pass the bill, which would cover a registration fee for a two-week trip to the Dominican Republic. The bill was IV’s second request to the SGA this year.

The trip, Drummond said, is through the nonprofit organization Students International and the registration fee would cover one person out of the 32-person group.

Drummond also pointed out that investing JMU students in a different culture could be very beneficial to the university community.

“It’s really giving a great view of a different culture,” Drummond said.

Winter agreed, adding that this trip may help spread JMU’s name, and therefore increase JMU’s international student numbers.

“We don’t have very many international students,” Winter said. “[The trip] is just one way to meet helpful, great JMU students.”

With 48 senators voting in favor and one abstaining, the contingency bill was passed.
 
The Latino Student Alliance requested a $10,000 program grant to fund a speaker as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins Sept. 15.

The speaker, Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for campaigning for human rights, especially for those of indigenous people.

Members of LSA highlighted the importance of having Menchu at JMU, due to the large amount of Hispanics in the Harrisonburg community.

The senate had unanimous consent in donating LSA the requested funding.

The second organization to ask for a grant was the American Choral Director’s Association, requesting $5,000 for their annual Choral Festival. The Choral Festival, said treasurer Kathryn Neff (Jr.), is an opportunity to bring high school students from the area to perform with JMU students. This year, she added, students from Maryland high schools may join the festival.

With unanimous consent, the grant was given to the ACDA as well.