SGA confirms new speaker of the senate

By Austin Lamb, Assistant News Editor

April 13, 2025

(From left to right) Senators Klister, Lavallias, Chigurupati, Deputy Speaker Gonzalez, Chairperson Monteleone and Senator Obabko are pictured at the Student Government Association’s Senate meeting on Friday. The Senate confirmed Nathan Gonzalez as the Speaker of the Senate for next year. (Austin Lamb | Northern Star)

DeKALB – The Student Government Association (SGA) confirmed Nathan Gonzalez as Speaker of the Senate for the 57th session at its meeting Friday.

RESOLUTION TO CONFIRM SPEAKER OF THE SENATE FOR 57TH SESSION

The SGA passed a resolution to confirm Nathan Gonzalez as the Speaker of the Senate for the 57th session, beginning in the fall 2025 semester.

“To me, the highlight of any sort of person is not in what they say, but in what they do,” Gonzalez said during his candidate speech to the Senate.

Gonzalez highlighted actions he took during his time as Deputy Speaker for the current Senate session such as increasing funding for student organizations, communicating and collaborating with other student government representatives from across the state and revising the SGA bylaws.

“With the mentorship under Speaker Manny Corpuz I am best equipped to handle the role of Speaker as I know what it entails and the large time commitment that is aligned with the role,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez also discussed goals he has for the 57th session.

“One of my goals is to continue the collaboration with other universities here in the state. Recognizing the changing political landscape, it is important for us to communicate and bounce ideas off of other Student Government Associations or similar organizations from across the state,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez mentioned his commitment to changing transportation during the 57th session.

“Part of the reason why I created the Transportation Committee is to address transportation concerns here on campus and help to make recommendations, improvements and do as much more as we can,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez discussed ways to increase outreach to student organizations and the student body.

“Something we have talked about is more visibility. I have ideas such as forums, suggestion boxes and more direct outreach to student organizations as well as the student body to be able to directly communicate with and advocate for students,” Gonzalez said.

Nathan Gonzalez was confirmed as the Speaker of the Senate for the 57th session in a vote count of 13-0-1.

BILL TO UPDATE DEFINITIONS OF SENATE VACANCIES IN THE BYLAWS

The SGA passed a bill to update the bylaws with processes that have been used during this session or previous sessions with regards to filling Senate vacancies.

These processes include:

The Speaker of the Senate must submit a separate resolution for each applicant.
Returning students are not eligible for any SGA Senate seats if they have been removed from their position in a prior session, unless the Supreme Court has voted to allow the student to reapply for the next session.
After a candidate answers all questions from the Senate or has used their 5-minute speech time limit, they can sit in on the Senate’s discussion about them but cannot contribute to the discussion in any way.
Each candidate will require at least a two-thirds vote from the Senate to be approved and denied applicants can reapply for Senate in the spring elections or during the next session.

The bill passed with a vote count of 13-0-1.

BILL TO ADJUST RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DEPUTY SPEAKER AND PARLIAMENTARIAN

The SGA passed a bill to adjust some responsibilities of the Parliamentarian and the Deputy Speaker.

On top of the typical responsibilities, the changes give the Deputy Speaker increased oversight over Chairpersons to ensure that committees are operating properly and that problems can be identified and prevented before they negatively impact the Senate.

The Deputy Speaker must now:

Approve committee events and coordinate activities of their own involvement or upon request from Senators, Chairpersons or the Speaker.
Meet with Chairpersons at least once a month and Senators twice a month.
Collect reports from all Chairpersons on their activities prior to the Senate meeting and collect reports from Senators who serve in non-SGA Standing Committees.

The changes to the Parliamentarian’s responsibilities allow for the preservation of the history of the SGA and for records to be deposited to the Founders Memorial Library in a timely manner.

The Parliamentarian must now:

Work with the Chief of Staff to act as a liaison between the Legislative and Executive branches.
Work with the Election Commissioner or Clerk of the Senate to archive legislation, documents, recordings, election materials or any other materials in the Office of the Speaker and Founders Memorial Library.
Maintain a record of the history, activities and business of the SGA.
Collect, record and verify all Senator outreach campaigns.

The bill passed with a vote count of 13-0-1.

The next SGA Senate meeting will be 4 p.m. April 18 in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center.