After heated arguments and disorder, the Student Govern-ment Association solved the summer 606 dilemma in accordance with the Student Court’s orders at Tuesday’s meeting.
The court ordered the SGA to make regular session 606 guidelines apply to the summer session. At the last meeting of the fall semester, SGA had proposed to simply eliminate summer 606 funding.
The Senate had to have legislation proposing how to do this by the end of Tuesday’s meeting. Several options were discussed, including asking the Student Court for extra time. Also, several senators had written legislation addressing the issue.
The three proposed pieces of legislation were deemed emergency legislation after a second vote and temporary suspension of rules.
A piece of legislation written by Senators Ethan Flynn and Tiffany Porter caused tension and disruption among the senators because it eliminated summer 606 funding, but it added a 606 funding session to both fall and spring semesters.
The legislation proposed having a 606 funding session completed before the end of the first Senate meeting of the semester. It also required a 606 funding session to be completed before the end of the final meeting of the spring semester, which would also involve a new 606 funding committee.
Many senators did not feel it was plausible to ask the 606 funding committee to do this. Despite many questions and much skepticism, Flynn defended his legislation with growing heat.
“Do you think it’s probable we’re going to follow our Const-itution,” he said. “We break it every time we meet.”
Some senators wanted to wait and take more time before deciding on anything definite regarding the legislation.
“That’s why I don’t like the SGA. We don’t decide on anything,” Flynn said.
A motion was made and given a second to be voted on. The vote was such that Vice President Aaron Caton had two options.
He could either count the abstentions as negative votes, which would cause a tie that he would have to break. Or he could choose not to count the abstentions as negative votes and the legislation would be passed.
Caton took a recess in which to consider his decision.
The meeting was called back to order, and Caton announced that he would not count the abstentions as negative votes and that the bill would pass.
“Having been in the position of vice president and secretary of allocations, I feel this legislation is feasible as long as members of the SGA meet their responsibilities,” Caton said.
Attorney General Jarrod Suits felt that this was a step in the right direction for SGA.
“Last semester, we were plagued with controversy and idleness. However, this semester, SGA will begin a new journey in achieving the goals of the students that place us in office,” he said.
However, not all senators were pleased with Caton’s decision.
“My biggest fear is that we will not have quorum for the two extra meetings that we just put in place,” Sen. Jason Coffey said. “If that happens, we have wasted our time bickering and arguing over something that could have been easily fixed.”
Other business that the SGA took care of was approving the 2003 Election Commission with seven members.
Also, Sen. Sherri Moore and Sen. Elizabeth Johnston both resigned.
606 applications are due this Friday by 2 p.m.

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