Monroe Park Campus SGA adopt Joint SGA proposal
The Monroe Park Student Government Association senate voted to join forces with the MCV Student Government Association in a meeting this past Monday by passing a Joint Committee Bill.
Staff Writer
Zoë Dehmer
The Monroe Park Student Government Association senate voted to join forces with the MCV Student Government Association in a meeting this past Monday by passing a Joint Committee Bill.
Prior to the bill, there was no standing committee that required communication between both campus SGAs. The bill was sponsored by chairperson Niyati Patel and student body president Jae Lee.
The measure is intended to allow for better communication between the two campuses to review issues related to both, also known as joint matters.
Student organizations that meet on both campuses will no longer have as much trouble managing funding from both SGAs, but rather will communicate directly with one legislature.
Earlier in the semester, during a senate meeting on March 18, the Monroe Park Campus SGA voted to kill an initial version of the bill with a vote of 19 for the formation, 22 against and one abstention. The first bill was proposed as a constitutional amendment, and was passed Monday as a bylaw instead.
When the SGA was divided, Patel led the position for the formation of the joint committee. She drafted both the initial bill and the new bill with changes.
Patel said that “the original JSGA (Joint SGA) bill proposed the creation of a separate, combined governing organization that dealt with matters related to both campuses. This would have allowed the organization to write and pass its own legislation with input from both our and the medical campus bodies.”
The Monroe Park Campus Senate was apprehensive to pass the initial bill because they believed that a separate body was unnecessary.
“So we compromised and removed the clauses that created a separate association,” Patel said. “The joint committee bill creates a new committee within the MPC and MCV SGAs, the first of its kind.”
As for the bill’s effect on students, Patel explained, “they now have a say on joint matters through their respective governing organizations.” Before, the university administration handled intercampus affairs at their discretion.
Vice president Ryan Garnowski assured that the new joint committee will not change anything structurally, “but it will give both SGA’s a ‘third opinion,’ so to speak, on issues relating to both campuses.”
Garnowski said the committee will have no true authority, but that “any opinions offered from this body will certainly carry ample weight in our eyes.”
