Student Government Association senators overwhelmingly voted down a resolution calling for the reversal of the recent changes to Georgia Southern University’s commencement ceremonies on Wednesday.

The final tally concerning the resolution was one yes, 13 no and 12 abstentions, with some SGA members absent. The meeting wrapped up not long after the resolution was officially not passed.

The resolution was originally passed on the Armstrong campus and brought to the Statesboro campus by Armstrong SGA speaker Tyler Tyack, and included proposals to allow students to graduate on their home campuses, create a committee made up of ​equal parts ​students and faculty in ​equal proportion​ to all three campuses and set up listening sessions on all three campuses before any final decision on commencement could be made by the president’s cabinet.

Tyack expressed his disappointment in the Statesboro campus SGA, but also affirmed his intention to keep fighting on the issue of commencement.

“There was a petition of 13,000 people that said this needs to change,” Tyack said. “This was something that united the three campuses. This was shot down completely.”

Tyack said he did not understand why SGA members voted no on the resolution.

“I understand the abstentions, but the nays I can’t fathom,” Tyack said. “Whether or not the Statesboro senate will support me on it, I will still fight tooth and nail to make sure the administration knows that students at the university, including those in Statesboro, are not in favor of this.”

Students and alumni later took to social media to express their discontent with the vote:

{{tncms-inline account=”GSEagleMan” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🤔🤔 The “STUDENT” Government Association evidentially doesn’t serve the STUDENTS. <a href="https://t.co/7OABgkgBzD">https://t.co/7OABgkgBzD</a></p>— GS EagleMan (@GSEagleMan) <a href="https://twitter.com/GSEagleMan/status/1098381838668709888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2019</a></blockquote>” id=”1098381838668709888″ type=”twitter”}}

{{tncms-inline account=”ansleymwhite” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">what a joke that <a href="https://twitter.com/gsuSGA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@gsuSGA</a> is <a href="https://t.co/hHLeATYmP1">https://t.co/hHLeATYmP1</a></p>— ansley (@ansleymwhite) <a href="https://twitter.com/ansleymwhite/status/1098389058022191106?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2019</a></blockquote>” id=”1098389058022191106″ type=”twitter”}}

SGA president Jarvis Steele was reached for comment via email after the meeting but has not responded.

The resolution passed by the Armstrong SGA can be read here:

Nathan Weaver, The George-Anne News Reporter, ganewsed@georgiasouthern.edu