Soren Spicknall
COPY EDITO R

With only 13 of the 21 active senators
present, the Student Government Association
(SGA)’s latest meeting in Stuart Building room
113 was noticeably more empty than usual It
was the night of the final World Series baseball
game (November 2), and even one of the two
prospective student organizations slated to
present at SGA that night had decided not to
come The absence of nearly half of the current
roster of senators, combined with eagerness of
some present individuals to leave as quickly as
possible, led to an uncharacteristically brief
meeting, focused on the essential elements of
each discussion heldl

To start off, the senator for Lewis
College, Trixie Weiner, presented the concept
of an organization she had formulated with
others during a psychology course and during
a meeting with her college’s dean. Called
Lewis Student Union, the proposed student
organization was intended to connect students

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SGA Senate approves Lewis Student Union and discusses constitutional changes

within Lewis College’s various disciplines and
work toward a broad variety of goals impacting
their professional and social opportunities on
campus Weiner spoke of earlyestage plans
for study groups and career workshops, but
put an emphasis on seeking open input from
the organization’s members about other ideas
before allocating resources to any particular
event The group’s overall goal would be to
increase recognition for Lewis College’s majors
on campus, and in doing so it would seek to
unite students within the college itself for
collective activitiesl After private discussion
without Weiner present, the Senate passed
the organization by a vote of 11 in favor, 2
opposed, and 0 abstentionsl

The “New Business" section of the
meeting contained two agenda items: a brief
discussion about the final recruitment push for
remaining open Senate seats (which concluded
on November 3), and a vote on whether there
should be a Senate seat created to represent
students participating in athletics at Illinois
Tech, to be appointed by the StudenteAthlete

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Advisory Committee (SAAC), a body of
varsity athletes that exists under Keating
administration. The measure passed by a vote
of 12 in favor, 1 opposed, and 0 abstentions,
and that seat will become active upon creation
of language providing for its existence in SGA’s
governing documentsl

SGA’s Executive Board members,
with the exception of the absent Academic
Affairs VP Akash Raina, each briefly presented
updates on some of their projects or other
work Notably, Finance Board Chair Sung Min
Choi Hong spoke about his ongoing efforts to
fill vacant positions in the organization, with
interested students encouraged to contact him
at fb@iitiedu to ask about applicationsl Most
importantly, though, Judicial Board Chair San
Dinh introduced a proposed addition to the
SGA bylaws which would allow Judicial Board
to serve as a mediator for internal conflicts
within student organizations on a voluntary
basis A student organization undergoing a
major conflict or contested decision could
theoretically take their issue to Judicial Board,

 

 

 

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SGA 5

AErE 6-8

SLIPSTICK 9-10

sign a document enabling Judicial Board’s
decision on the issue to be binding, and go
through the hearing process to determine the
best course of action The amendment will be
voted on during the next senate meeting on
November 161

Before the meetings end, as a nod to
the common complaint that Senate meetings
take too much time for students to reasonably
retain interest in, SGA Executive VP Sonia
Kamdar introduced a proposal to hear new
student organization applications only twice
per semester rather than allowing applications
to be heard at each Senate meeting on a rolling
basis This proposal’s discussion was held for
the next meeting, so students can reach out to
their senators to give input on the idea if they
wish

SGA Senate meets bieweekly on
Wednesdays at 9:15 pm in Stuart Building
room 113, with committee meetings held on
alternating weeks in the MTCC colored roomsl

own to celebrate historic Cubs World Series victory

 
    

Photos by Kari anns