After a 3-1/2 hour meeting Tuesday, the Student Government Association finally came up with a proposal to present to the Student Court, in accordance with the court’s orders to correct summer 606 funding.
The SGA was ordered to correct summer 606 funding allocations by making regular session guidelines apply to the summer session also. According to the SGA interpretation, a proposal for how to do this was due by the end of this semester.
The SGA was taken to court by former Sen. David Lane because of a lack of senators during the summer and also excessive allocations of funds.
“We did not have proper student representation on that committee,” said SGA President Jennifer Berry.
Although the SGA had designated a special 606 Commission to come up with a solution and had also held a special session meeting, the Senate convened with no ideas as to what to do to meet the court’s orders.
According to SGA Vice President Aaron Caton, the commission did not function because it was unable to schedule and hold meetings.
One of the biggest debates was whether to simply cut out summer 606 funding. The Senate was at a stalemate over this issue.
“As SGA, we are supposed to serve the students all year round,” said Sen. Ashley McCroskey.
However, Sen. Chris Ziegler said that it makes no sense to allocate funding when the SGA is not taking in any revenue.
After hours of debating among senators, the Senate finally came up with a proposal to present to the student court. This proposal simply eliminates summer 606 funding. The proposal will be discussed and voted upon at the first SGA meeting of the semester.
However, not all Senators were happy with the fact that a solution was reached.
“I think the SGA is irresponsible. The solution we came up with is irresponsible, and the fact that we wait this late to come up with a solution is irresponsible,” Sen. Ethan Flynn said.
“I feel that the legislative process may not have been truly functional because there were so few senators present at the time when the decision was made,” Caton said.
The Senate also covered other business before dealing with the student court order.
Berry and Associate Justice Aaron Fielden made a presentation to the Senate about the purchase of a new mascot for ETSU. President Paul Stanton told them that he would find the money to fund the new mascot that would appear at games and also community and campus events.
Secretary/Treasurer Priya Ponnapula made a presentation on her summer 2002 trip to Thailand during which she taught Student Government and English to the students.
“It was so memorable and life-changing,” she said.
Mattea Cosmann was appointed as secretary of interior and sworn in by Chief Justice Andrew Dyer.
Nate Bailey vacated this cabinet position at the previous meeting through a letter of resignation that was read to the Senate.
Cosmann resigned her position as associate justice in order to take the appointment. This leaves an associate justice position vacant.
Anyone interested in applying for this position should call or come by the SGA office.

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