SGA proposes a United Student Government

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A proposed committee of representatives from the Board of Visitors, the Monroe Park Campus SGA and the MCV SGA would consider issues of importance to both campuses, according to tentative bylaws presented by MP SGA members at an open forum on Jan. 28.

Cyrus Nuval
Staff Writer

The Monroe Park SGA held an open forum to discuss the proposal of a United Student Government (USG) of VCU.

A proposed committee of representatives from the Board of Visitors, the Monroe Park Campus SGA and the MCV SGA would consider issues of importance to both campuses, according to tentative bylaws presented by MP SGA members at an open forum on Jan. 28.

The USG would facilitate a better working relationship between the student governments of the two campuses and make decisions on matters that impact both campuses. Both SGAs would continue to make decisions that affect their respective campuses.

According to the tentative bylaws presented by Monroe Park Campus SGA Vice Chair Tiffini Smith, the governing body of the USG would be called the Joint Committee. The proposed Joint Committee would be composed of twelve members — each SGA would have four senators and their respective presidents on the committee, as well as two members of the Board of Visitors. The chair position would alternate between presidents each academic year.

Monroe Park SGA Sen. Brian Cowles is hopeful that the idea of a United Student Government and Joint Committee will help students on both campuses.

“We trying to make sure that all sides and both campuses are heard. With a Joint Committee, organization can be more efficient and issues that affect the students of both campuses can be solved faster and more efficiently,” Cowles said.

The proposed bylaws also describe the Joint Committee as a student governing association with it’s own independent powers. The Joint Committee may supercede the authorities of the separate SGAs on matters that affect the students of both campuses.

According to the bylaws presented by Smith, the issues that affect the students on both VCU campuses will be regarded by the Joint Committee as “joint matters.”

“In order for an issue given to the Joint Committee by the VCU administration or the SGAs to be considered a joint matter, a unanimous vote is needed by all members of the Joint Committee,” Smith said.

Motions proposed to address joint matters require at least a two-thirds majority vote from the members of the Joint Committee. Once a motion has been passed, the separate SGAs will be notified of the decision within 24 hours.

However, the enactment of the decisions will be postponed until it is approved by the legislative branches of the SGAs.

“We are going to follow a checks and balances system with the USG just as we do with the all the branches of the SGA,” Smith said. Motions made by the Joint Committee would be subject to amendment by the legislative branches of both SGAs. The amended motions would be returned to the Joint Committee, and would need unanimous approval. If a motion would receive such approval, the decision would be binding.

Smith and Cowles were disappointed that only three people attended the open forum on January 28, two of whom were SGA Senators. The SGA intended to set up two more open forums in February, but have since canceled the forums in favor of spreading the information to the students directly through other organizations, rather than waiting for the students to come to them.

According to Smith and Cowles, the proposed bylaws are not yet considered official. The proposal will be presented to several student organizations and VCU community meetings this February, the list of which has not yet been finalized.

Once the proposal is presented and critiqued by the non-SGA organizations, they will be voted upon by the student body on the spring semester ballot alongside the Monroe Park Campus SGA presidential and senate elections

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