This week’s Student Government Association’s (SGA) meeting saw the nomination and appointment of a new president pro-tempore. 

On Friday March 5, President Dennis McDermott expressed the resignation of Sophie Burkholder in a letter addressed to SGA members. Here, McDermott expressed that Burkholder’s contributions to SGA over the years do not go unnoticed. The resignation comes as a result of Burkholder “becoming increasingly busy with responsibilities outside of SGA.”

The SGA constitution outlines that any vacancy “shall be elected as soon as reasonable possible.” The election process usually proceeds with a senator nominating another. All the candidates who agree to their nomination will be subject to a blind vote and a simple majority vote winner receives the position.

Senator Jade Steele nominated Senator Kendra Summers-Stephens for the position. Summers-Stephens, unopposed, was thus elected president pro-tempore and will finish the rest of Burkholder’s term for this academic year. Summers-Stephens is also currently the only candidate running in the upcoming SGA election for the vice-president position.

“I very much believe that serving as president pro-tempore for the remainder of the semester and working under [Vice President] Bryce [Hayzlett] would help me gain a better understanding of what I need to do next year as vice president,” said Summers-Stephens. 

As outlined in the constitution, the president pro-tempore, amongst other things, is responsible for chairing meetings of the legislative body in the vice president’s absence.

In the second open floor discussions of the meeting, the impartiality of the Elections Board was discussed. During an SGA election, the constitution outlines that to ensure impartiality “an independent Elections Board shall be formed to run polling stations and tally votes.” These three students, who are under the supervision of Dean of Student Life Michael Gieseke, provide help and support during the process to make sure it runs correctly. 

Parliamentarian Zach Washington relayed that the committee had decided that each candidate for president will receive the opportunity to nominate an individual outside of SGA on their behalf to make sure there is transparency.

Senator Grace Tyler Frank-Rempel questioned whether or not these members would be impartial if they are nominated on behalf of each presidential candidate. She expressed concern for this due to the fact that the Elections Board not only assists in the election of the president, but the vice president and all senator positions on SGA. 

“Technically these are recommendations…they do have to be approved by the senate,” Washington said. 

All nominations as outlined in SGA rules must be made during the legislative body meeting two weeks prior to the election. The span of the election for SGA this year will be March 29 to April 2. 

A motion passed during the meeting to add $204.45 to the internal budget for new equipment for the Student Center. This new equipment includes new pool cue sticks, balls and table tennis paddles. One of the pool tables have been recently moved into the lobby of the Boulevard Apartments building, but it is still undetermined for how students may check out the equipment.

Current SGA President McDermott is seeking re-election for his position as president. Senators TJ Graise and Nanina Grund are running against him. The presidential candidates and vice presidential candidate will be participating in a pre-recorded debate on March 17 at 6:30 p.m. to be broadcast at a later date.