When the e-polls open on March 30, there will be two referendums on the ballot, one to revise a controversial student presidential requirement, and one to add the senate speaker pro-tem to the executive council.
Resolution 59-110, proposed by SGA president James Johnson last year, required candidates for president, vice president or speaker of the senate to have held a position in SGA for a minimum of nine months. The suggested modifications would change the regulation to at least 36 completed credit hours.
Current speaker pro-temand presidential candidate Cory Higdon said he supports the change because the present rules prohibit roughly two-thirds of the SGA staff from running for higher offices.
When the resolution passed last year, it eliminated Johnson's opposition for the presidency. This year, Johnson supports the legislation.
"We need more students on campus who are eligible to run," he said. "Also, it will increase awareness for SGA."
Secretary of State Antonias Hawkins supports the new legislation as well. He said it will give "new blood" an opportunity to serve their student body and pose new challenges to less-productive, lame duck senators.
"Someone could have been in a position forever but never have done anything with it," he said. "If you haven't done anything, it shouldn't matter."
Higdon agreed with Hawkins.
"People think we will have inexperienced leaders, but sometimes experience isn't what SGA needs," he said, noting the fresh ideas and optimism that can be associated with newer candidates.
Higdon said he also supports a change to Senate bill 60-009, which would add his position, speaker pro-tempore, to the executive council, currently made up of only the president, vice president and speaker of the senate.
Members of the SGA executive council receive a scholarship, parking and other perks during their tenure. When bill 60-009 was originally proposed, Johnson said he vetoed it because "there were no specific guidelines in regard to scholarships and stipends," in terms of adding a fourth position.
The budget, he said, wouldn't support another executive officer.
Once it was decided the speaker pro-tempore would not receive the same monetary perks, Johnson said he supported the bill.
Higdon said the perks weren't as important as staying in the loop.
Executive council meetings, which are held once a week, do not require the speaker pro-tempore to attend. But Higdon, the current pro-tempore, said he attends anyway just in case he's ever called upon to fill in for current speaker of the senate, Tristan Wilkerson.
"I need to be there to know what's going on in case something happens where I have to fill in," Higdon said.
Wilkerson said that while he doesn't think it's necessary for the speaker pro-tempore to be included in the executive council, doing so brings SGA closer to the model of an actual legislature.
Secretary of State Antonias Hawkins encouraged students to take an active roll in their government and vote on the bills during the upcoming election.
"We need the student body to pass the changes," he said. "Students need to know what's going on and we want their opinion."
For more information on the SGA and its current constitution, visit memphis.edu/sga.
The elections will be held on March 31 and April 1 at electsga.memphis.edu.
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