SGA passes two bills, presents last new bills of the semester
SGA Senator Sarah Bidgood said that she has concerns over the viability of using WebEx as the main video platform for online classes at CMU during an SGA meeting via WebEx on April 19, 2021.
Central Michigan University Student Government Association rounded out the year with presenting the last bills of the semester during an April 19 meeting via WebEx.
Two of SGA Rep. Nova Moore's bills were passed through SGA's House and Senate. Both were in support of expanding resources to LGBTQ and disabled students.
Three new bills were introduced.
The first bill was on installing more Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) throughout campus buildings. It said that they would be installed in Powers Hall and older residence halls.
SGA Rep. Rafael Garza said that he supported the legislation because how it adheres to CMU's mission statement.
"Throughout this pandemic, CMU has said health and safety are their top priority," Garza said. "This is something to keep people safe in case of emergencies, so it needs to correlate to what CMU said throughout this year."
Moore said that they had concerns with the funding. The author, Rep. Joseph Monetta, said that he would look into state grants for AEDs at the university and update the legislation.
The next bill advocated for WebEx as the main recommended platform for faculty and students to use for online classes and video conferencing. Surveys sent to students and faculty conducted by the authors pointed towards WebEx being the preferred platform.
Yet, representatives and senators said that WebEx is not the main platform for a reason.
"For music majors, it is almost impossible to use WebEx," Moore said. "It just does not allow for instruments to be able to appropriately get the sound across on the platform."
SGA Sen. Sarah Bidgood said they agreed with Moore and recommended a clause for what faculty could do in case WebEx would not work for them.
The last bill introduced was a resolution to inform faculty of the ability to change your WebEx display name. It was brought forward by SGA Rep. Jesse Bair as a means for students to change their preferred name and add pronouns, the bill said.
Moore said that more students adding pronouns to their names could allow for correct pronoun usage by professors.
