Title IX persists in Senate meeting
By Jordan Funderburk, staff writer
Posted on October 26, 2006

Fiery debate within the SGA sparked many senators to rethink what they believed their constituency wanted. Yet again, the recent Title IX ruling dominated the weekly meeting.

“This is not about what we in this room believe,” Sen. Matt Winer (Jr.) said. “We are voting for what our constituency wants. And saying I’m not going to vote for it now would be a disservice.”

Winer, like many of his fellow senators, called for full support from within the SGA upon the recent Save Our Sports Bill of Opinion. After Sen. Alex Waldie’s (Sr.) motion for the bill to be reworded, debate quickly switched to whether or not the bill should be supported at all.

Leading the way was Sen. James Reddish’s (Jr.) claim that the bill only supports a minority of students.

“We can’t speak for 144 students if the other 16,000 will be worse off,” Reddish said.

Reddish was pointing to the many repercussions some fear the bill could lead to.

“If this institution has to go through a lawsuit it will hurt the students,” Reddish said. “Nine million will have to come from somewhere.”
 
Ultimately, the stack of 1,989 signatures collected by SGA was enough to sway those unsure. The bill passed 56-2.

“In supporting any action, you have to be willing to accept the consequences,” Reddish said. “This could raise tuition or we could lose our federal grants. We needed to say something. As a representative of everyone, we have to take in the best interest of everyone.”
 
The Student of the Month was also approved during the meeting. Senior Courtney Shevchuk came away with the honors for her student teaching in the community.

The music education major was nominated by her cooperating teacher, who said she had never seen as good a student teacher in her 25 years of experience. Shevchuk recently completed teaching at North Fork Middle School and will soon begin student teaching at Charlottesville High School.

“Just to be recognized as one of the top students in the JMU community is nice,” Shevchuk said.

Shevchuk was most looking forward to the special parking pass she will receive, along with a bookstore gift certificate and dinner with JMU President Linwood Rose.

Student Body President Brandon Eickel also proposed the adoption of a pioneering technology by the university. Called Mobile Campus, the program allows clubs and faculties to send text messages to students as a new way of communication.

Possible uses include messages regarding JMU events, ticket availabilities, teacher announcements and school cancellations from inclement weather.

While the program is free, Mobile Campus reserves the right to text message students local advertisements from cooperating businesses. However, SGA would receive a portion of these profits estimated to be $5,000 per year.

Eickel supported this technology for its flexibility.

“If at some point you decide this is not [your] thing, you can go to the Web site and quit,” Eickel said.

Mobile Campus currently serves 25,000 students nationwide.