The Associated Student Body Student Senate reviewed and finalized the bylaws before being put to vote at the Student Senate meeting Thursday .
It’s been almost a month since Tyrone Robinson, the elected student senate president, sent out his resignation letter and ASB is making efforts to pass bylaws as quickly as they can so they will have a proper route to fill the vacancy.
The meeting began with the normal order of business and included the removal of Senator Joel Dacarro who has not been present at any of the meetings this year.
ASB Advisor Tanika Byrd delivered the message from the administration that “the expectation is by next Thursday this board will have something to deliver to (the administration) in the way of bylaws.”
During the public comment portion of the meeting some students brought forth issues such as smoking on campus, however were disappointed when the board told them that business like that could not be discussed until the bylaws are finished.
The meeting ran smoothly until it came time to review the bylaws. It then turned into eye rolling, interruptions and heated debates.
The proposed bylaw changes were in sections concerning when special elections can be held, and the qualifications a student must have in order to run for the presidential seat.
The audience had much to say about these changes which made discussion from the audience a large portion of the meeting.
This is what frustrated Clubs and Events Board President Jeremy Diefenbacher, as he often urged the board to move along as quickly as possible. It was important to him to have the student senate bylaws finished and voted in next week so that CAEB bylaws could be completed as well, since the two have to be identical when it comes to election proceedings.
“I think that CAEB is ready to vote in the special election portion of the bylaws so we can vote in our own bylaws,” said Diefenbacher after the meeting.
He believes students should have voiced their concerns to the board prior to the meeting so the senators could have brought forth motions instead of the students using the meeting time to express themselves.
Many times the advisor Byrd had to step in to make sure the board was using the proper meeting etiquette, as senators would talk over each other and she often had to act as a mediator when things got a little out of hand.
After the turbulent discussions, the senators came to an agreement on the bylaws and the meeting came to a close after a two-minute extension.
In next week’s ASB Student Senate meeting the board members will be voting on the bylaws as they were left today. If the board votes and approves of these bylaws there will be a special election in the near future to fill the vacancy of president. The next meeting will be Oct. 3, from 10:30 a.m. to noon.
