The student led, student read news organization at Georgia Southern University

The George-Anne Media Group

The student led, student read news organization at Georgia Southern University

The George-Anne Media Group

The student led, student read news organization at Georgia Southern University

The George-Anne Media Group

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SGA Overwhelmingly Passes Resolution to Reverse Commencement Decision

SGA Overwhelmingly Passes Resolution to Reverse Commencement Decision

Ethan Smith, News Editor

The Student Government Association overwhelmingly passed the resolution to reverse the administrative commencement decision at the Spring 2019 SGA Convention.

The decision on UR4, formally known as SR7,  comes after a unanimous passing of the resolution from the Armstrong and Liberty campus Senate and a voting down of the resolution from the Statesboro Senate.

When the resolution was first proposed in Statesboro, one senator voted “yes” while 13 voted “no” and 12 abstained, so the result took a completely different turn than previous.

Voting at the convention included both Senates, with voting consisting of 31 “yes” votes, two “no” votes and five abstentions.

“We are a megaphone for the students.” said Speaker Tyler Tyack, who created SR7.

SGA President Jarvis Steele has to sign off on the resolution to make it official.

“I do plan on signing the resolution,” said SGA President Steele. “At the end of the day, people want what is in their best interests, no one will ever truly be satisfied, but I think the student body has been well represented by the Senators of the SGA,” he finished.

SGA President Steele signed the resolution at the ALC Senate meeting on Monday, March 4 in hopes that it will be presented to administration in the near future.

Throughout the discussion process, the first portion of the document, which states “That the President’s Cabinet of Georgia Southern University immediately revert the changes made to the Spring 2019 Commencement Process so that students from each campus may graduate on their home campuses was the main topic of discussion among senators.

The resolution does not guarantee a change to Spring 2019 commencement but,

“This voting decision absolutely and accurately represented the student body, if you have seen social media and the outrage from students, it has all been about commencement needing to change. I don’t think we[SGA] could have done any better representing the student body than we did with this vote,” said Executive Vice President Spencer Demink.

“We can tell them that we did try. Personally, I do not believe that any changes will be made to this semester’s commencement but for the future I hope we can have a say,” remarked Statesboro Senator Keyshawn Housey.

“I feel good about the vote we made… I wish there was more we could do for this Spring but there isn’t much time to get things done. I hope it [the legislation] influences future changes regarding commencement in a positive way,” said Armstrong Senator Jani McDaniel.

After months of student outrage, a 13,000 signature petition to reverse the commencement decision and obvious discrepancies between the Statesboro and ALC Senates, an agreement was finally made that represented the student body as a whole.

This voting decision also raises an important question; Does this mean the three campuses of Statesboro, Armstrong and Liberty can unite on more issues in the future?

 

“The George-Anne News Reporter Nathan Weaver contributed to this article.”

 

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