After two weeks of deliberation, the Student Government Association passed an amendment to the SGA constitution changing the requirements of senator classification.
The amendment came in response to a problem the SGA has run into when students run for office based on credit hours, not college experience.
For example, before the amendment, individuals who are first-year students but have a large amount of Advanced Placement or concurrent credit from high school could run as sophomores. Some senators said this wasn’t representative of school experience, since those students were still technically first-year students with first-year experience.
The amendment excludes any credit obtained by a student before they either graduate from high school or obtain a GED from consideration. It does not, however, exclude transfer credit or credit gained in the military.
Much of the debate centered around technicalities such as wording, the implications for mid-year appointees and credit hour classification.
Amendments to the amendment were discussed and summarily dismissed for the time being.
Although some senators were in favor of passing a package of amendments to clear up the problem of appointments, Executive Vice President Corey Parks said SGA should focus on passing the legislation at hand and worry about the rest of the details as they arise.
The amendment passed 36-5, satisfying the two-thirds requirement for a constitutional amendment.
Two sophomore representatives have been appointed by the SGA appointment to fill the seats of representatives who resigned earlier in the term.
The new sophomore representatives are Megan McAfee and Kendall Leggett.
Director of Career Services Kathy Clayborn spoke at the meeting and brought up a possible increase in the student fee for career services.
The proposed 25-cent increase would top the current 50 cent rate and pay for new ways to help UCA graduates get careers after graduation. Career services also supplies resources for internships.
This article originally appeared in the Oct. 14, 2015 print edition of The Echo.
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