DeKALB — Newly appointed President David Rivera gave his remarks to the Student Government Association senate on Friday.
Rivera gave brief remarks, wishing former President Ja’Kobe Jones well, who stepped down last week Wednesday, and expanded on his plans moving forward.
“I want to express my sincere gratitude for our previous president Ja’Kobe Jones for the dedication, leadership and hard work he put in SGA during his tenure,” Rivera said. “He set a strong foundation and I know I have big shoes to fill.”
Rivera remains confident in his ability for the role.
“My immediate priority is ensuring the continuity and civility within SGA so our work continues to move forward without disruption,” he said. “I want to emphasize that this administration will be grounded in collaboration, transparency and open communication.”
PROPOSAL TO CODIFY FIRING PROCESS
Senate speaker Nathan Gonzalez also proposed Senate Bill 57019, which would forbid any SGA official from holding any elected or appointed paid position in the SGA without first renouncing any executive board position of any kind in any type of student organization. Failure to do so would automatically strip that official of the SGA position.
Furthermore, SGA officials who commit fireable offenses would be stripped of their position immediately without needing removal by the senate.
“If say, I were to commit a fireable offense by the university and still be fired by the university, I would still be able to maintain my position as speaker because the bylaws do not currently provide a mechanism for automatic dismissal,” Gonzalez said. “It is my opinion that if any elected official were to commit any fireable offense, then they should automatically be removed from their position and they do not need to have an additional requirement of being removed by the senate.”
Gonzalez said these changes only apply to elected and appointed positions — those paid hourly.
“This does not apply to any position that is governed by stipends,” he said. “This applies to both senators as well as any other position that is only paid by a senator.”
This bill will be voted on at the next meeting.
STUDENT ORGANIZATION CHANGES
The Senate also proposed Senate Bill 57021, which would mandate that no single person be allowed to occupy more than one position of the same student organization’s executive board.
“For example, you could be president of speech team, you could be vice-president of chess club, you could be treasurer or some other org. You can’t be president and treasurer of the same organization,” Gonzalez said. “Not a lot of student organizations have these types of provisions within their constitutions. It’s much more effective for us to implement it at an SGA level than try and have the Organization Oversight Committee (OO) go back and try to force it on every student organization.”
This bill will be voted on at the next meeting.
PROPOSAL TO ABOLISH SERGEANT-AT-ARMS POSITION
Gonzalez proposed Senate Bill 57018 to eliminate the sergeant-at-arms position, which was introduced to uphold rules of etiquette for the senate, enforcing decorum and a dress code.
The position has not been filled since the 55th session, which Gonzalez said renders it obsolete.
“It has outlived its usefulness and those same objectives and activities the former sergeant-at-arms position did can now be fulfilled by the speaker, deputy speaker, and well as a new parliamentarian role in and of itself,” he said. “Because this is not a paid position anyways, this will not create any long term consequence for SGA once it’s eliminated.”
This bill will be voted on at the next meeting.
The next SGA meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. Friday in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center.
