SGA Approves Three Senate Bills and Three Senate Resolutions for Further Review, Including One Emergency Clause
On Oct. 17, SGA held their ninth meeting of the year. During the meeting SGA members heard from USD’s Coordinator of Student-Athlete Mental Health Tanner Peterson, unanimously passed 3 senate bills (SB) and 3 senate resolutions (SR) for further review, including the emergency clause for an unanimous approval of one resolution.
Peterson gave SGA members information regarding his newly created position on campus as USD’s Coordinator of Student-Athlete Mental Health, as well as information about the Counseling Department.
“This role is specifically dedicated to the mental health of student-athletes on campus and my personal goal is to give them a safe space to process, fully develop and learn about themselves while they go through the unique experience of being a student-athlete,” Peterson said.
The meeting went on to cover both old affairs and resolutions, leading to the unanimous waiving of SB 92, SB 93, SB 94, SR 5, SR 6 and the passing of SR 7 which passed as an emergency clause.
SB 92, refers to SGA’s student affairs committee, in which members are in the process of constitutionalizing the planning and hosting of sanctioned panels regarding on-campus diversity. This bill has had one addition since its last hearing on Oct. 10, which is that these panels will not take place during the months that classes are not in session throughout each academic year.
SB 93, represents a budget request submitted by PAVE, in which the group requested a total of $200 in SGA funding, which was approved by the association for the full amount requested.
SB 94, refers to a budget request submitted by The Surgery Interest Group, in which the group requested a total of $1750 in SGA funding only to be allocated for a total of $400 in association funds.
SR 5, is in reference to the addition of a “student resources” tab offered through the D2L main page. There have been no further revisions on this resolution since its last hearing on Oct. 10, however SGA members are considering expanding this resolution to include another “student resources” tab located within the main page of Coyote Connections.
SR 6, regards to the association’s desire to begin advertising USD’s 100% greenhouse gas-free electricity consumption, which has been brought to the association’s attention that the university is currently operating under a completely greenhouse gas-free electrical environment, this was important to SGA members as this statistic is highly appealing to both students and organizations researching the university as a whole.
SR 7, was unanimously approved by the association as an emergency clause, as the resolution refers to the association’s act of reaching out to ESPN as an attempt in bringing ESPN College Gameday to Vermillion on Oct. 28 for the USD vs. SDSU football game.
The association agreed that bringing ESPN College Gameday would be a great opportunity for the university as it would result in a high number of publicity for the university as a whole, but more specifically USD athletics.
SGA’s next meeting will be held next week on Oct. 24 in the Freedom Forum Conference Room in the Al Neuharth Media Center at 6:30 p.m
