The Student Government Association (SGA) meeting took place at 7 p.m. on Oct. 2 at the Bovee University Center Auditorium an agenda to review the bylaws and introduce the committees to Registered Student Organization (RSO) representatives.

Bylaws Review

Vice President Ryan Biller opened the floor for a discussion on the Bylaws that were created in last week's meeting. The opportunity was given to SGA members and RSO representatives to amend, revise and vote on the Bylaws.

A motion was presented to change the director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) position which was then tabled to discuss the Board of Trustees Section.

Now the director of DEI is responsible to attend and submit a report at the Board of Trustees meeting, as agreed upon by SGA members.

The motion has been passed with some opposition and abstention.

A motion was also presented to keep the description for the director of DEI to continue its role to "assist in the hiring of the Executive Cabinet.” This section was amended and has been passed in the 2023 and 2024 Bylaws.

In Article 2 of the Bylaws, a motion was presented that now the"legislative bodies must meet simultaneously during formal sessions," which is a change from "legislative bodies must meet simultaneously."

When a member of the audience opposed, Student Body President Tyler Zimmerman provided some context on why it is important for the legislative bodies to meet simultaneously.

“The reason that we suggested this change is number one, just to ensure that legislation goes through both bodies simultaneously … (and) that legislation processes are timely and smooth throughout the whole way. And number two, I feel like this is just a fairness thing,” Zimmerman said.

Biller said this legislation meant "an accountability measure."

“There's still other things that can be done and discussed for the betterment of students on campus in general,” Biller said. “So having a short meeting is never a bad idea.”

“I just want to encourage you all to take your time here and use it wisely to talk about the issues that you face, to write the legislation that you care about, because that does hold weight overall,” Zimmerman said.

To conclude the 2023 and 2024 Bylaws Review, the motion was voted and passed.

Budget Review

The budget was presented by Treasurer Natalie Brant for the SGA 2023 and 2024 year. The expected amount to be received is $24,000, which was budgeted to $23,900. Each committee is set to receive $500.

“The way we divided it out is all our cabinet positions have stipends to them, so that's a big chunk of our budget, the rest of it goes to normal office running things,” Brant said.

Budget was approved and has passed.

House

Speaker of the House, Joshua Boman discussed ideas for legislation with RSO Representatives.

Boman had spoken out that there are concerns with the dining hall food being served to students on campus and those who live in residential halls.

Boman shared that he will be meeting with Resident District Manager, Tyson Dubay about concerns that students have had with the dining hall food. He had asked the RSO representatives if they had anything they wanted to be discussed in their meeting.

Some topics brought up were dining hall hours, food options for those who have dietary restrictions and quality of the food items being served.

Announcements

The RSO of the week was then announced for the first time to be Aspiring Educators, which will be featured on SGA’s Instagram later in the week. An RSO could be nominated on Engage here.

Central Sustainability is hosting Campus Farmers Market every Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sept. 8 to Oct. 20 in Parking Lot 33N. Central Sustainability is also looking for recommendations and suggestions from students who live in and around campus to better their organization and help the overall sustainability on campus.

The RSO can be reached at sustainability@cmich.edu.

An Emergency Senate Election will be held at 7 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Bovee University Center Auditorium.