SGA revises constitution and gears up for elections

Guy King
Staff Writer

The Jackson State University Student Government Association held an open Senate meeting on March 17 to inform the student body of revisions to the constitution and discuss upcoming elections.

Students packed the Student Center Senate Chambers and offered opinions and suggestions to the revision committee.

“It was a pretty informative event; we had about 3/4ths of the room packed. They asked a lot of intelligent questions about getting into SGA, about what did we have planned, and about what did we have for the remainder of the year, and a lot of questions about the election coming up. So a lot of people seemed excited, seemed really interested in the positions and some of the changes we made to the constitution, so it was pretty informative and I thought it was a really good turn out and really beneficial for the student body,” said Charles Cathey III, SGA President and a business management major from, Chicago, Ill.

During the meeting several students expressed displeasure with the current 2.8 GPA requirement for students who wish to run for SGA office.  The students proposed that the GPA requirement be raised and that all those seeking the position of SGA president be in the SGA for at least two years prior to running.

Perrin Bostic, a senior health care administration major from Little Rock Ark. said, “A student leader should be held to higher standards and should lead in every facet, especially in the classroom.  As students, it’s important to remember why we’re in school which is to get an education and that everything else is extra. In fact, the GPA requirement should be a 3.0.”

However, the issue of raising the GPA requirement was not granted and the GPA requirement listed in the standing constitution will remain the same.

The revision to the constitution states that the executive officers for the SGA must have successfully completed 90 credit hours and a maximum of 126 earned hours prior to assuming office, and have been enrolled at Jackson State University five(5) semesters prior to candidacy.  Additionally, the candidate for President must have held an elected position in the SGA on the Executive, Judicial, or Legislative Council for at least one full term (academic year) prior to candidacy.

Mr. Sophomore, Rashad Moore, a criminal justice major from Jackson, Miss. suggested that two years of SGA experience should be required from each candidate.

On March 18, the SGA held a panel discussion and forum “So You Want to be in the SGA” for prospective candidates. The panel included previous and current SGA members who shared their experiences as SGA members and what they want to see in the upcoming administration.

Sophomore Class President, Henry Goss, a native of Jackson, Miss. and mass communications major said

, “The forum todaywas very informative and helpful and shined a light to the student body on what goes on in the SGA. I feel that today’s forum helped students that did not really have the knowledge of what the SGA is and what it does for the campus to pursue an interest in a position in the near future.”

Jason Gibson, a senior social science major from Jackson, Miss. and Mr. Senior agrees that the panel discussion was very beneficial to potential candidates.

“Pretty much what I liked about it was that it was really informative for people to start getting into SGA. It was a lot of information that they needed to inquire. It gave people an opportunity to hear different perspectives of what different people wanted to get out of the SGA.  People who have served in different capacities in the organization giving their different spiels on what it was, the pros and cons of the SGA,” said Gibson.

At the end of the discussion the panel gave advice to prospective candidates on running a clean campaign and keeping a strong relationship with the people that are on campaign teams, other candidates, and the student body.

The SGA will have a Student Body Meeting today, March 20 in the Student Center Theater and the 2014-2015 Election Nominations will be held Monday, March 23 in Ballroom A in the Student Center.