The Student Government Association discussed the proposed budget cut and the newest class withdrawal bill, voted their approval of a health care no-show bill, and elected two new senators in Monday night’s meeting.
President Kelli Cody announced a decent turnout for the March 15 rally at the state capital in Atlanta, including about ten other SGA presidents from other schools in Georgia.
The proposed $300 million budget cut- which was the reason for the rally- has been replaced by a proposed $117 million cut. This proposal would take $3 million from VSU instead of the $9 million that came with the first proposal.
Cody said this proposal would definitely be “more workable” and Senator Ryan Brown stated that there was a possibility that this $3 million could be covered by VSU’s stimulus package. The new proposal will most likely not be voted upon until mid-April.
Cody also reported on the last Faculty Senate meeting, in which a new bill was passed that would limit students to only five class withdrawals throughout their entire stay at VSU. This bill was passed in an effort to keep students from “course shopping,” or signing up for more classes than they intend to keep.
Cody said that while she agreed there should be a limit on withdrawals to fix this problem, she took a stance against the low number, and suggested a limit of seven or eight instead. However, Cody holds no voting power in faculty/senate meetings and her suggestion was not approved. All students will have a clean slate once the bill becomes effective, meaning withdrawals from previous years will not be counted.
The senate also heard from Student Health, who presented the newest health care no-show bill.
The bill stated that a student who does not show for an appointment or call to cancel within two hours of the appointment will first receive a warning via email. On the next offense the student will be charged a fine of $10. The bill also stated that any student who had not paid their fine within two weeks would receive a hold on their record.
Student Health reported that out of all the appointments made at the Health Center everyday, 10-20% of students do not show up or call to cancel their appointments. There have been 1,300 no-shows since last August.
Most senators agreed that the large number of no-shows was a problem and two senators moved to amend the bill to charge a $15 or $25 fine. These amendments were not voted in, however and the bill was agreed upon as is.
“I am fairly sure it needs to be addressed in Faculty Senate and voted on there as well,” stated Cody in an email.
The senate also heard from two senate nominees from the previous week’s meeting. Erika McCoy and Laura DiBiase were voted into the senate.
SGA Meetings are held every Monday at 8 p.m. in Meeting Room 1 of the Student Union.