Verilu Infante/THE RIDER PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
Update: Student Life and Dean of Students sent a campuswide with information about the upcoming election, candidates and results from ammendment voting Thursday night.
The UTRGV student body passed all nine proposed Student Government Association constitutional amendments, which will take effect in the 2022-2023 SGA election and term of office beginning May 2.
Delma Olivarez, associate dean of students for Student Involvement and SGA co-advisor, said in an email to The Rider that all of the amendments have been reviewed and approved by Dean of Students Rebecca Gadson and UTRGV President Guy Bailey.
Students approved the ammendment in an election held March 7-9.
As previously reported by The Rider, the following changes will be made to the SGA constitution:
–Vice presidents will no longer be required to represent a campus. This removes the requirement to be enrolled in at least six credit hours at the location they desire to represent at the time of application or appointment and while holding office.
–Of the four academic senators and four graduate senators, none will need to represent a different location.
–Undergraduate students must maintain good academic standing as defined by the university for enrollment at the time of application and appointment throughout their SGA term. This removes the minimum 2.5 GPA requirement.
–Members of the judicial branch will no longer have location-based requirements. This means there will no longer be a location requirement for eligibility.
–The Supreme Court will consist of four associate justices and a chief justice. The chief justice position must be filled by a student. This removes the requirement for the associate justices to represent a different location and the two faculty/staff from the associate justice branch.
–Should UTRGV establish a campus where the student population requires representation based upon the recommendation of the dean of students, or approval of a petition of the students from that location, the SGA Advisory Council will prompt the senate chair to create two senator-at-large positions followed by their location to represent that student population.
–The chief justice will initialize and oversee the removal and impeachment process as designated in the bylaws. The creation and dissolvement of a student court system will also be at the discretion of the chief justice.
–The student supreme court will have jurisdiction over the removal and impeachment processes unless otherwise noted.
–The dean of students will have the power to amend or appeal any provision in the constitution or bylaws by the SGA, but will not be effective until approved by the UTRGV and SGA presidents.
Olivarez said the election results are available to view on the SGA website, SGA Constitutional Amendments | UTRGV and it is planning to send a campuswide email Friday with results and information about the SGA elections.
The 2022-2023 SGA General Election is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. April 18 and end at 11:59 p.m. April 21. Students will receive a ballot via their UTRGV email sent by the dean of students with the subject line “SGA General Election: Vote Now.”
