This piece was updated as of 2/17 to make a correction.
Correction: The Northern Star previously wrote there was discussion to remove Chairperson Gonzalez. The discussion was to remove Chairperson Rosales.
DeKALB – At Friday’s Student Government Association meeting, senators voted to increase the number of voting members required to be present for a meeting.
INCREASE IN PARKING PASS COST
The Campus Parking Committee is planning to increase the cost of student parking passes from $100 to $102, to be implemented at the start of fiscal year 2026. The increase in price will help pay for repairs in the parking garage.
“If you have not noticed, on the second floor of the parking garage the lights are basically out. The rationale behind it is because the water pipes are bursting and leaking within the parking garage,” said Deputy Speaker Nathan Gonzalez.
The parking budget and any other funds used to repair roads on campus come from parking fees such as parking passes and tickets.
This decision to increase the price of parking passes has not yet been approved.
BILL TO REQUIRE AT LEAST THREE VOTING MEMBERS FOR A MEETING
All committees for the senate will now require at least three voting members to conduct a meeting. A committee’s chair will not count toward the quorum of a meeting but will still be recognized as an official member.
The bill, identified as SB56019, was passed and will go into effect next week.
BILL CLARIFYING THE DEFINITION OF BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS
SB56020 aims to change part of the constitution that defines what a bill and a resolution is.
“The main reason for this change is specifically because it is not very clear on the actual constitution itself what the actual definition is,” Gonzalez said.
The legislation will be voted on next week.
TABLED RESOLUTION TO REMOVE A SITTING SENATOR FROM OFFICE
CSR56027 was proposed in order to remove Chairperson Rosales from office due to a consistent lack of communication and several absences during his role as chairperson of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee.
“This has become a repeated offense toward SGA, and it also just has been quite a struggle at this point,” Speaker Manny Corpuz said.
SGA has recently made efforts to have the DEI committee meet due to a recent executive order from President Donald Trump titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.” Despite these efforts, the group has not met since the fall semester, seemingly due to a continued lack of communication from Rosales.
Senator Robinson brought up a potential compromise for the issue.
“Would it be possible to do a temporary suspension instead of removing him from office?” Senator Robinson said. “He is required to still attend all of the meetings and committees that he is a part of without voting power, and possibly his attendance to these and showing that he is dedicated to them, could be, save for a month of suspension from his powers, to possibly show that he is committed and that this previous action was a dark spot and that he can possibly redeem himself.”
Despite Corpuz’s own desire to bring the legislation to a vote during the meeting, Robinson made a motion to table the discussion for another meeting and was met with no opposition.
