Senators-at-large, president pro-tempore appointed to new positions

Student Government Association President Josh Sorbe administered the oath of office to ten senators-at-large at the weekly SGA meeting Tuesday night, and the new senators-at-large were appointed to standing committees.

To become an SGA senator-at-large, a student must fill out an application, have an interview with three past senators and have a mock session of an SGA meeting.

Sidney Juffer, a first-year accounting major, said she became a senator-at-large so she can improve students’ experiences at USD.

“Honestly my biggest thing with trying to become a part of the senate, is just to make sure that students are getting involved on campus and make sure that they are having their full experience here at USD,” Juffer said.

Also at the meeting, senators Marcus Ireland, Riley Paulsen and Michelle Novak were nominated for the position of president pro-tempore, who runs meetings in case of the vice president’s absence.

Novak was elected to the position by a majority of the senate.

Novak said her previous experience as vice president in the 2016-2017 term will aid her in the president pro-tempore position.

“Typically the (president pro-tempore) is pretty familiar with the bylaws and constitutions of SGA, so they’re able to ask any questions that would come up during meeting,” Novak said.

In addition, Sorbe introduced a resolution recommending the IT department to allow students to opt-in and continue to access their university emails post-graduation. Currently, a USD graduate’s university email account is deactivated six months after graduation.

SGA vice president Madison Green supported the resolution.

Green said the opt-in would allow graduated students to use their emails to maintain connections and use their emails on their resumes.

“I wasn’t allowed to put my Coyotes email on my LinkedIn account because it disappears a few months after you graduate,” Green said. “By being able to keep your student email, you’d be able to access all of the networking and all of the contacts you made during college and just be able to keep in contact with all of your university resources following graduation.”

Also at the meeting, Dakotathon, the African Student Association, the Tiospaye Student Council, CAB, International Club and the Dakota Days Executive Board petitioned for large organization status and funding and were approved.