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SERVING THE BREVARD COLLEGE
Volums 73, Issu6 14 COMMUNITY SINCE 1935 December 14, 2007
SGA proposes constitutional amendments
by Scott Brown
Contributor
Two amendments to the SGA
constitution released Dec. 4 are
now open for student review
for a period of three weeks,
leading up to a campus-wide
vote at the start of next semes
ter
These amendments will serve
to involve students in the de
cisions made on campus and
ensure coimectivity within the
student leadership.
Before the joint session of the
Student Government Associa
tion (SGA) Nov. 19, the pro
posed amendments were ap
proved by both the House of
Club Representatives and the
Senate, after three weeks of re-
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vision and open forum hosted
by the constitutional review
board.
Two weeks earlier on Nov. 6,
the constitutional review board
first presented the two new
amendments to the SGA joint
session, which caught many
members by surprise. The
amendments were approved by
the Senate but voted down by
the House of Representatives.
Discussion about the amend
ments continued after the meet
ing, calming those who had
fears about the issue passing
beneath the radar
Many of the questions dur
ing the meeting were merely
points of clarification, leaving
two or three issues which were
later investigated by the con
stitutional review committee,
and lead to some changes in
the amendments.
The committee spent the first
of three weeks in deliberation
and revision of the amend-
Affirmatives
win debates
On Reading Day, the affirma
tives went 2 for 2.
Two debates—one open fo
rum debate, and one academic
debate—were each won by the
affirmative argument in close
decisions. Both debates were
part of the “The 6th Aimual
Debate Tournament: An
Evening of Debate,” sponsored
by the Brevard College Debate
Society.
In the academic debate,
Catherine Johns and Travis
See Debates, page 12
ments in closed meetings. The
second two weeks were open
to all members of the SGA to
offer their input and have any
questions they had answered
in preparation for their re-sub-
mittal at the next joint session
meeting.
These amendments were con
ceptualized and drafted early in
the semester in an effort to sim
plify the communication pro
cess between different student
organizations, and to ensure
accountability within the SGA.
“The way it (the SGA) is set
up now is not even reactive.
It’s just abunch of people talk
ing about doing things and
never seeing anything
through,” said Beth Brooker,
SGAPresident. “That’s why we
changed the function of the
permanent committees to focus
outward so that they could hear
the voices of the students.”
Specifically, the changes al
tered the duties of certain SGA
positions and intertwined the
responsibilities of the different
organizations on campus.
The amendments were con
tested at first on the grounds
that they had not been thor
oughly disclosed to the mem
bers of both the senate and the
house. Ironically a few of the
amendments related specifi
cally to the issues of permanent
committee involvement and in-
ter-organizational coimectivity
that they were designed to pre
vent.
Now that the two amend
ments have been approved,
they will be offered to the stu
dent body for a period of three
weeks, both through active dis
tribution from the SGA and
upon request of one of the SGA
executives.
The amendments will be en
acted pending a three-fourths
vote of approval from all stu
dents during Confirmation and
the days prior to January 16.
Bring the Heat!
Sculpture student Zach Porch performs his final project of the
semester.