By Sophie Foster
News Co-Editor
The Student Government Association will be making alterations to its governing documents.
This intention was announced in an email from the SGA on March 30. According to the email, this process is in its first phase of a four-phase process of document review, which begins with the legislative branch before advancing to revisions regarding the executive, judicial, and review branches in phase two; clubs, organizations, and budget in phase three; and miscellaneous categories in phase four.
“The first phase covered Articles I and III of the SGA By-Laws and Articles I, V, and VII of the SGA Constitution,” the Governing Documents Review Plan said.

These changes come after the Constitutional Review Committee gathered student feedback, discussed necessary changes, and submitted suggestions regarding the legislative branch. Some of these shifts are content-based, and others merely involve rephrasing certain language.
According to the plan, the governing documents consist of the SGA’s constitution and bylaws, and determine the manner of operation for the SGA.
“These documents structure the Senate and its respective committees, class officer positions, the executive and review boards, student organizations and their respective budgets, and the procedures to elect and remove officers and amend the governing documents, and more,” the plan said.
According to the background, these documents have not been thoroughly reviewed in more than a decade, and contain issues including outdated institutional practices, confusing struture, and grammatical errors.
Looking specifically at legislative revisions, changes are set to be made in sections regarding the senate, class officers, the speaker of the senate, election processes, and legislative powers.
Said alterations were voted on by the senate, and were to be put in place during the ballot generation of the 2023 class officer elections on April 7.
Questions regarding this process can be directed to Speaker of the Senate sophomore Emma Parker-Watt. Further information will be communicated to students by the SGA as this process progresses forward and additional determinations are made.
Elm Archive Photo
Photo Caption: The Student Government Association’s office on campus is a resource for students looking to further understand the campus.