Correction: This story and headline were changed to differentiate between office of the speaker and cabinet positions.
DeKALB – NIU’s Student Government Association held elections for both new and incumbent office holders in the office of the speaker and cabinet positions at its first meeting of the semester in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center on Friday.
ELECTIONS OF CABINET, OFFICE OF THE SPEAKER MEMBERS
Elections for office of the speaker positions included clerk of the senate and deputy speaker. Cabinet positions included chief of staff and director of athletics.
Ashley Johnson was unanimously voted to continue serving as the chief of staff from the 56th session in a 10-0 vote.
Damian Hepburn was unanimously voted to serve as director of athletics in a 10-0 vote.
Cameron Sawyer was unanimously voted to continue serving as clerk of the senate from the 56th session in a 10-0 vote.
Eddie Guerrero was unanimously voted to serve as deputy speaker in a 9-0 vote, Guerrero, himself a senator, abstaining.
BILL CODIFYING PUBLIC COMMENT PROCEDURES
The senate presented a bill to allow any member of the public to provide public comment, so long as an “Intent to Speak” form is submitted. This bill, according to Speaker of the Senate Nathan Gonzalez, is meant to codify existing legislation.
“Anyone can put up a public comment for it to appear or be read out on the senate floor, and all they would have to do is submit it at least by midnight the day before,” Gonzalez said. “So that would mean before midnight on Thursday the day before senate meets.”
The bill will be voted on at the next SGA meeting.
BILL TO EXPAND MEDIATION PROCEDURES FOR ORGANIZATION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
The senate presented a bill to codify an official procedure in the Organization Oversight Committee’s role in mediating disputes between student organizations.
The Organization Oversight Committee’s function is to recognize new student organizations at NIU and ensure that existing student organizations remain recognized by SGA.
“This is a carried over legislation that ended up dying in the 56th session due to lack of quorum,” Gonzalez said. “This is basically just a reintroduction of that piece.”
According to the revised procedure, a student or organization may petition the vice president or chairperson of the Organization Oversight Committee for review. If rejected, they may take it to university staff for remediation followed by the SGA supreme court.
If petitioned for review, a hearing is to be held for each party to present their case and a verdict is to be reached by the committee.
Petitioners are still allowed to go straight to university officials if they don’t wish to discuss it with the committee.
The bill will be voted on at the next SGA meeting.
The next SGA meeting will take place at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 1 in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center.
