The SGA Senate discussed several topics in Tuesday’s meeting.
The SGA discussed sponsoring a Christian rock concert by the band Building 429. This concert would take place Dec. 10 after the Tennessee Tech basketball game. After little debate, the senate approved a $5,000 allocation to the SGA so it could sponsor the event. The vote to approve the funding was 14 to 0.
The senate also held a short discussion on the TurnItIn.com service.
TurnItIn.com is a program where students would turn their papers in online, and the service would report to the student and teacher areas where the student may have plagiarized.
David Simpson, a representative from the College of Arts and Sciences, said his main concern was that the company who runs TurnItIn.com is profiting from students’ papers.
“We want programs that help prevent plagiarism,” said SGA President Ethan Flynn, remarking that the issue is important.
“I just don’t think students should be forced to use a program that this company is profiting from.”
After the discussion, the senate voted 14 to 0 in favor of a resolution stating the SGA was opposed to the use of TurnItIn.com and would recommend the use of the system be discontinued.
The senate also heard a resolution introduced by Samuel Barnes that urges all academic departments to give all undergraduate students mid-term progress reports.
The resolution cited that allowing all students to see a mid-term progress report would give them the opportunity to catch class problems early and that such knowledge is “critical to academic success.”
The full SGA senate will debate and vote on the bill next week.
In other news, the senate swore in six new members: Jo Barclay, Josh Chambless, Jamey Debaby, Tracey Smith, Whitney Calhoun and Alyssa Youngerberg.

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