Dear Editor,
I would like to respond to the letter to the editor that appeared in the March 22, issue of the East Tennessean concerning the SGA Senate.
First and foremost, I would like to offer a formal apology on behalf of the Student Government Association to the Beta Alpha Psi. There has obviously been a misunderstanding on the part of their organization, as well as in our Senate.
The Better University Community Fund is established to fund events which will be beneficial to a wide array of students. Typically, this includes only on-campus events open to the student body, off-campus events which will affect a large number of students, or other events that will provide a significant benefit to a significant portion of the student body.
This money is not for any academic-related (academic enhancement as defined by the Senate) event, “networking” event, or individual travel.
Furthermore, organizations are requested to seek co-sponsors, fund raise, and ask academic departments or colleges for money prior to coming to the BUC Fund committee.
Constitutionally, organizations must be yielded time to speak during SGA meetings. Currently, we are working with nearly 10 new senators, in which this was their second BUC Fund hearing, and some were unsure of exact parliamentary procedure.
However, if the senate was rude or disrespectful in any way, this is something that we would like to apologize for. We make it a point to tell our senate to be respectful, open-minded, and classy when it comes to their actions during these meetings.
We are constantly working to improve the internal workings of our BUC Fund committee, our senate, and our SGA as a whole, so we appreciate everyone who voices their concerns, as SGA is “the voice of the students.”
We are currently working on a way to inform senators prior to meetings of each group’s request. We hope that you will all take this as an opportunity to be active in the upcoming election (April 10-11), in order to make sure that those people being elected are indeed chosen by all students, reliable, and will fulfill their duties as a senator; also, we encourage more students to run in next years election.
— SGA President Joshua M. Shearin, Secretary of Allocations Rebekah E. Edgar and Parliamentarian Hannah B. Abel

Author