DeKALB – The Student Government Association (SGA) passed several bills aimed at improving the transparency of the judicial branch and announced election information at Friday’s meeting.
In Illinois, the Open Meetings Act (OMA) requires public bodies to post meeting agendas at least 48 hours prior to a meeting. As of March 23, an agenda for the SGA’s March 21st meeting was not posted.
ELECTIONS
Students will be able to vote in the SGA election starting at 7 a.m. Tuesday until 7 p.m. Thursday via a link that will be provided once elections begin.
Since the SGA elections are uncontested this year (meaning no one is running against the incumbent candidates), there will be no in-person polling. The election ballot is as follows:
| Executive Branch | |
|
President |
|
| Ja’Kobe Jones | |
| Vice President | |
| David Rivera | |
| Treasurer | |
| Nicholas Lazaric | |
| Student Trustee | |
| James Innis | |
| Legislative Branch | |
|
College of Business (3x) |
College of Education (2x) |
| Steve Robinson | |
| College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (2x) | College of Health and Human Sciences (2x) |
| Eric Zimmer | |
| Owen Salerno | |
| College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (5x) | College of Visual and Performing Arts (1x) |
| Eddie Guerrero | Tyler Moskal |
| Nicholas Obabko | |
| College of Law* (1x) | Graduate-At-Large* (3x) |
| Faustina Asante | |
| Mckeown Owusu | |
| Nathan Gonzalez | |
| Graduate for Underserved Communities* (1x) | International Student Seat (1x) |
| Oluwatobi Kushimo | |
| University Housing (2x) | University-At-Large (4x) |
| Nicholas Lynch | |
| Sky Boniecki | |
| Underserved Student Communities (6x) | |
(*) Denotes a seat reserved for an NIU Student who is currently registered in a Graduate Program
BILL TO UPDATE CONSTITUTION FOR DEFINITION OF CODE OF PROCEDURES
The SGA passed a bill to update their constitution to clarify the definition of the code of procedures as well as how it should be maintained.
The code of procedures is the primary governing document that the judicial branch relies on besides the SGA constitution.
The bill added to SGA’s constitution to clarify that the code of procedures should be updated every two calendar years by the supreme court and that it should be properly maintained and passed on to the following session’s supreme court.
This follows last week’s request by Chief Justice Max Jarmula for an unpaid clerk position to assist the supreme court with scheduling and communications issues that prevented them from meeting.
The bill was passed with a vote of 12-0-0.
BILL TO UPDATE THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF CHIEF JUSTICE
The SGA passed a bill to update the responsibilities and duties of the chief justice in the constitution.
The bill ensures that the code of procedures will be transferred from the chief justice to the clerk of the court so that it can be properly transferred to an incoming chief justice at the start of a new SGA session.
The bill passed with a vote count of 12-0-0.
BILL TO ENSURE CLEAR PRECEDENT FOR ARCHIVING STANDARDS FOR THE SUPREME COURT
The SGA passed a bill to update the constitution to establish that the clerk of the court will provide the parliamentarian with all documentation relating to the supreme court.
This bill allows for the SGA’s senate to have a clear view of what the supreme court is working on throughout the session.
The bill passed with a vote count of 12-0-0.
