For the time being, the monkey was taken off the back of the Student Committee on Political Action at Sunday night’s Student Association meeting.

A proposal to accept the recommended bylaw changes and additions made by the SA’s Internal Affairs Committee concerning SCOPA was passed by a 36-2 vote. There were two abstentions, and eight senators were absent for the vote.

The approved bylaw changes for SCOPA are: the SA president shall appoint no more than two SCOPA chairmen, eliminate SCOPA’s role in voter registration and reduce SCOPA’s voting members to 20 (as opposed to the entire committee, which is open to all fee paying students).

The approved proposal also added: the speaker of the senate would be an ex-officio voting member of SCOPA, a quorum would consist of one more than half of the voting members approved by the senate up to the present date, any final decision regarding the intent or action of SCOPA would have to be approved by a majority of the voting members before any form of political action could be taken, and the SA president would have veto power over any final decision regarding the intent or actions of SCOPA.

SA Sen. Gary Stittgen asked for the resignation of SCOPA Co-chairmen Mike Goldstein and Rene Lilly so that the senate may reapprove them. Stittgen said asking for the resignations was “a matter of principle,” and their reapproval would be an “act of good faith” that would show that SCOPA and the SA can work together.

Nominations for the senate speaker position were closed at Sunday’s meeting. The three candidates are senators Joe Annunzio, Regina Hudson and Mike Stumpf. The senate will elect the speaker at next week’s meeting.

Also at next week’s meeting, SA Vice President Gregg Bliss will present to the senate the name of the recommended applicant for president pro tempore, and the senate then will vote to approve the recommendation. The five candidates are Jeremy Hughes, Scott Leo, Joseph O’Malley, John Paul and James Pennington.

The president pro tempore of the senate will chair the meeting according to Robert’s Rules of Order and the SA operating procedure, Bliss said.

Dekalb 7th Ward Alderman and mayoral candidate Mark Powell spoke to the senate about topics including forming an executive committee to investigate the possibility of letting 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds into the DeKalb bars.

Student Regent Nick Valadez “introduced” himself to the senate and told members about his proposal in which administrators and chancellor’s staff only would receive a percentage pay increase equivalent to that of the faculty.