Constitution Overhaul, Campus Improvement on Docket for SGA
The Student Government Association is cleaning house & focusing on the future.
When the Student Government Association (SGA) held their biweekly Monday night Senate meeting on February 17, the agenda was largely business as usual. Their meeting opened with prayer; they approved the formation of an organization; they split into groups to discuss campus improvement projects. One item on the schedule, though, was out of the ordinary: the formation of a constitutional revision committee.
SGA revises their constitution roughly every 5 years, meaning the document is due for a revisit. This spring, the Constitution Committee will be tasked with increasing efficiency and reshaping the operations of their organization around a post-COVID, post-Speed, post-football Mississippi College.
“We’re considering reconstructing the way that our legislation and SGA goes about, because it is really hard for people to understand,” SGA Vice President Caroline Sanchez said.
Sanchez is one of the five members of the SGA’s Executive Council. The association also consists of a Delegation of Student Leaders, colloquially called the Senate, and the Judicial Council. The Delegation is traditionally composed of 28 student representatives, while the Judicial Council is composed of 10 student justices.
Constitutionally, these student leaders and representatives are tasked each year with completing service projects, devising campus improvement initiatives, collecting input from the student body, arbitrating any votes conducted among the student body, approving and providing grants to student organizations – and much more.
However, the constitution, which currently clocks in at 50 pages, contains several guidelines which are out of sync with the current circumstances of both SGA and campus at large. For example, existing eligibility requirements for Executive Council members would make electing next year’s SGA president impossible. The constitution revision committee will also reevaluate the number of representatives on the Delegation of Student Leaders.
“Hopefully, we can roll out a fresh new constitution by mid-April so that we can get it approved by the student body,” SGA President Zach Dickey said.
The only part of the constitution that will not be approved by the student body in mid-April, says Dickey, are the sections concerning traffic fines. The Judicial Council adjudicates violations of the Student Handbook and other campus policies, which mainly involve traffic infractions. SGA sponsor Dr. Jonathan Ambrose oversees funding and fines doled out by the organization.
The constitutional changes are just one item on a full docket of spring semester projects for the SGA. Several subgroups of the SGA delegation are working on projects to keep campus running smoothly and keep students engaged.
“Transportation and We Love America day will be the big things that we organize,” Sanchez said. “We have little stuff that will be done, for sure, which will not go overlooked, because it’s still important in every aspect. We just have a vast amount of different ideas that people are constantly bringing to us.”
Sanchez refers to the SGA’s two main spring projects. The Delegation of Student Leaders is divided into two Affairs Committees, which each strive to improve different aspects of Mississippi College’s campus. The Student Affairs Committee focuses on intangible aspects of campus, like events, organizations, and academics, while the Campus Affairs Committee focuses on the tangible – like dining, residence halls, and facilities.
The Campus Affairs Committee is working on an act to reduce student parking woes by next school year. “There’s been talk about maybe getting scooters on campus that you would rent, and it would be free for MC students,” Sanchez said. “Just kind of having easier transportation – especially for people in the pods, because they can’t park in the Healthplex.”
Meanwhile, the Student Affairs Committee is planning a tailgate-style event in April called We Love America Day. The committee seeks to both honor veterans and increase athletic engagement with the event.
Five additional committees – also composed of Senate members – have been appointed to support campus traditions, homecoming, athletic involvement, and two different areas of student engagement, respectively. “We [the 5 members of the executive council] are on committees that have been appointed to figure out what next year looks like without football, with the name change – how those things will look different,” Dickey said.
The new committees’ task will be planning a calendar of events and robust support system for remaining areas of potential campus involvement, all with the hopes of keeping students on campus.
“Now it’s like, what will we do with those open weekends when someone could easily just go home?” Sanchez asks. “What can we do to make sure we’re not just a suitcase college? That’s a big thing we’ve been focusing on recently.”
If you’re feeling dizzied by the amount of plans, projects, councils, and committees, you aren’t the only one. “So many people just don’t know what we do,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez herself, in fact, can often feel disoriented. “I feel like we’ve done so much and so little at the same time,” Sanchez said.
Despite ample talk of change, the organization is not looking to completely overhaul their operations. Members of the SGA are also working to preserve what students love about MC.
“We’ve talked a lot about change, but one thing my committee really focused on was the importance of keeping the traditions that we do have – all the things they love, like Follies and homecoming,” SGA Chief of Staff Kate Betts said. “They still want the events to happen, just with slight variations to accommodate for the changes that we do have. There was a lot of focus on keeping what makes MC feel like home and all the things that we truly love.”
For those curious in learning more about SGA operations, Sanchez notes that meetings are open for students to attend and observe – “You can be in there at any time,” Sanchez said. Senate meetings take place every other Monday at 9 p.m. in Nelson Hall.
The SGA is also seeking students outside of SGA to serve on the Constitution Committee, which will meet after regular Senate meetings.
More information about current SGA policy and operations can be found at https://www.mc.edu/sga/.