ETSU’s Student Government Association held its first meeting on Tuesday with nine seats vacant from senators who resigned or graduated last semester.
The senate voted to table legislation from the previous semester due to vacancies in the head positions of various committees, which meet and discuss the legislation presented to the senate.
The senate agreed to resume the legislation once the seats in both the senate and committees have been filled within the next few weeks.
With the resignation of Sen. Kevin Carlson, the senate was left with a vacancy for the Parliamentarian position—a senator who makes sure that the body is following the constitution as closely as possible.
Both Sen. Sam Arnold and Sen. Nathan Farnor were nominated for the position, with Farnor receiving the most votes.
“In the past, procedural issues have prevented SGA from being as productive as possible,” Farnor said. “As a body, our miscommunication regarding procedures should never harm or diminish our ability to work for the students.”
Farnor said he is already in the process of making plans to educate all senators properly on parliamentary procedure, rather than waiting for a problem to occur and then resolving it.
“If our goal is to make a difference for the students, then we must first ensure that we are putting ourselves in a position to reach that goal,” Farnor said.
President Alex Cassell discussed a Sexual Misconduct conference sponsored by the Tennessee Board of Regents that will take place on Feb. 26.
“We should have the most participation for this conference because we are the only school to have the conference on the east side of the state,” Cassell said. “Other schools from west and middle Tennessee have each had around 100 or 200 people attend.”
Cassell said he is expecting people from Northeast State, Tusculum, Carson Newman and possibly the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
“In addition to the conference, I will be visiting various groups on campus to talk about sexual assault and inappropriate behavior, especially those most affected,” Cassell said. “This conference is not targeted at any specific organizations, and the ones I talk to will not be the only ones invited to the conference.”
The attendance fee for the event will be $25 per person.
“If the fee is too high for some students, we are working with certain divisions on campus and allowing them to sponsor students that work in their offices,” Cassell said.
Sen. Tori Neal said students concentrating on Women’s Studies as a major or minor can go to the Women’s Studies office and receive sponsorship, regardless of whether they work in the office.
