The first day of the new semester was a heated one for the student body government as they discussed and voted on the election packet for the upcoming campaign.
Chief Administrator Danielle Parker presented changes for the election packet for the Undergraduate Student Government to vote Monday night.
Some of the revisions included rules for the president and vice president, stating they cannot approach a student who is voting and try to persuade their vote.
This change was made because students now always have a voting booth in their hands, which is their phone, Parker said.
“So they can be anywhere while they are voting,” she said.
However, there was one revision that had USG discussing for more than an hour. It was suggested by Parker to add a requirement to the election packet that stated a president and vice president must have at least one full semester worth of experience in USG in order to run.
After the discussion, the packet was passed without the revision of the semester requirement.
Members like Academic Affairs Chair Kasie Durkit thought the revision was a necessary one.
“No one would become president of Dance Marathon without ever participating in it before,” Durkit said during the meeting. “It’s the same thing here, they need experience and to know what USG is.”
Internal Affairs Eric Juzkiw agreed with Durkit.
“It’s important to have someone involved with USG,” he said during the meeting. “It’s a position looked up to. If you have a new senator asking questions about office hours or something and [the president] doesn’t know, it’s going to look very bad.”
However, At-Large Jordan Dettrow felt there should be more flexibility with the system.
“Experience is a lose thing [to define],” Dettrow said during the meeting. “They could be an observer at every meeting or a proxy and have experience.”
Vice President David Neely agreed with Dettrow.
“Whoever wants to run should be able to,” he said during the meeting.
As the packet stands now, the only requirement for a student to run is they need to have attended the University for at least a year. They do not need to have experience within USG.
President Alex Solis believes this decision was the right thing to do.
“Let the voters decide; let the students decide,” he said.
Solis was pleased with the discussion.
“I was very reassured when the senate took the time to talk,” he said. “Too [often] do we just vote and not talk enough. That didn’t happen this time.”
