S-103-03
SMU STUDENT SENATE
Legislative Number: S-103-03 Final Vote: Passed Unanimously
Authors: Blake Rainey et al. Senate Secretary: Will Jones
Dean of Student Life: Joanne Vogel Student Senate Chair: Will Stovall
A RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE STUDENT SENATE BY-LAWS
FOR THE REFORMATION OF OFFICE HOURS POLICY AND THE CREATION OF COLLABORATION GROUPS
WHEREAS the SMU Student Senate By-Laws currently requires those who hold the position of Student Senator to perform one office hour each week, and
RECOGNIZING that historically, the number of Student Senators actively performing office hours is less than the total number of Student Senators serving at any given time, and
NOTING that some Student Senators who regularly attend office hours often do not use their allotted time to meet with constituents or work on Student Senate related business productively, and
ACKNOWLEDGING that for most Student Senators, especially new Student Senators, it is difficult to engage in productive Student Senate related activities without collaboration or the knowledge of the interworking of the university and administration, and
RECOGNIZING that the Student Senate is constantly reviewing its policy and procedures to ensure we are operating as efficiently as possible to deliver effective solutions to the issues and concerns faced by the Student Body, and
FURTHER NOTING the desire of many Student Senators to collaborate more often with one another and to become more active and involved in their roles by more consistently researching and proposing recommendations and resolutions to campus problems facing their constituents,
BE IT THEREFORE
RESOLVED that Article I, Section 3, of the Student Senate By-Laws be amended to read:
Section 3. Responsibilities of Senate Members
1. Responsibilities of Student Senators shall be as follows:
a. Senators are required to attend all Senate meetings, all required retreats, and required committee meetings;
b. Senators are required to meet periodically with the Student Body Vice President, as the Vice President deems necessary;
c. Senators are required to perform one office hour or participate in a Collaboration Group meeting for every week that Senate convenes;
d. Senators are required to meet with the constituents of their respective schools based on request through an online appointment system and in consultation with the Student Body Secretary;
e. Senators are required to comply with the Student Senate Affiliate Program as outlined in Article X of the Student Senate Policies and Procedures;
f. Senators are required to hold a “Meet and Greet” event each semester within their school of record and coordinate activities for such events with other Senators of the same school. Such events are held for the purpose of reaching out and conveying all relevant information from the Senate towards their constituents.
g. Senators are required to attend all mandatory functions of the Senate, including but not limited to Mandatory Organization Meetings and Organization Budget Information Sessions, as determined by the Student Body Vice-President. Failure to attend any mandatory function will result in an unexcused tardy if the Senators had been made aware of the mandatory event at least one week in advance, otherwise the tardy will be excused.
, and
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that Article I, Section 4, Item 3 of the Student Senate By-Laws be amended to read:
3. A Senator shall be penalized one tardy for every appointment with a constituent missed as well as for every office hour or Collaboration Group meeting missed, as applicable, as verified by the Student Body Secretary.
, and
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that any additional reference to office hours in the SMU Student Senate Constitution, By-Laws or Policies and Procedures reflect the change to the implementation of the online appointment system, as applicable, and
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the Student Senate By-Laws be further amended to add the below Article VI immediately following Article V and every succeeding article number be updated to reflect this addition:
ARTICLE VI.
COLLABORATION GROUPS
Section 1. Purpose
Collaboration Groups exist to provide a medium for Student Senators to collaborate and work toward resolutions (formal or informal) or recommended solutions to issues directly affecting the SMU Student Body. Each Collaboration Group must have a minimum of three members. Each member of a Collaboration Group does not have to be working on the same issue as any other member, but may do so if they so choose. Any recommendations of Collaboration Groups that the Student Senate votes to adopt must be proposed through a formal resolution which can be debated on the floor as outlined in Article XII (Rules of Order) of the Student Senate By-Laws.
Section 2. Creation and Length of Existence
Collaboration Groups can be formed at any time during the academic year while the Student Senate convenes. During the first Student Senate meeting of each academic semester, time will be allocated within this meeting during Senatorial Forum for Student Senators to collaborate, brainstorm, and announce issues for new Collaboration Groups to address. Upon formation of a Collaboration Group, each member of the Collaboration Group must notify the Student Body Secretary of their participation in the group and which week the members plan to start meeting. Collaboration Groups that were in existence in previous semesters may be renewed after notifying the Student Body Secretary as long as all members are current members of the Student Senate. Any Collaboration Group can be renewed each semester indefinitely as long as all members are current members of the Student Senate. In addition, each member of the Executive Committee is required to serve on at least one Collaboration Group throughout each semester.
If a Collaboration Group dissolves for any reason within the time in a given semester when the Student Senate convenes, each member of the dissolved group has one week from the group’s dissolution to join or create another Collaboration Group after giving notice to the Student Body Secretary or to notify the Student Body Secretary that he or she will instead host individual office hours for the succeeding weeks that the Student Senate convenes.
Section 3. Membership
Each Collaboration Group must include at least three current Student Senate members. Each member must be currently serving as a Student Senator or member of the Executive Committee except in special circumstances as approved by the Executive Committee. A member may serve on multiple Collaboration Groups simultaneously. A Student Senator or Executive Committee member may choose to switch membership to another Collaboration Group with notification to the Student Body Secretary as long as each Collaboration Group continues to include at least three current Student Senate members.
Section 4. Meetings
1. Collaboration Groups shall meet at least once per week for a minimum of thirty minutes.
2. Open Meetings
All meetings of Collaboration Groups of the Student Senate will be open at all times, to all senators and officers of the Student Senate, space permitting.
Section 5. Absences
It will be the responsibility of each member of a Collaboration Group to present evidence to the Student Body Secretary of their attendance to each weekly meeting of a Collaboration Group. An example of evidence may include (but is not limited to) a time-stamped picture of a meeting with each member present that is sent to the Student Body Secretary.
Additionally, for every Collaboration Group meeting, one member of each Collaboration Group must submit a brief report of at least three sentences describing what initiatives were worked on and what was accomplished. This report should clearly demonstrate how each Collaboration Group member contributed to achieving the goals of that Collaboration Group. This brief report should be submitted to the Student Body Secretary within forty-eight hours of the conclusion of the meeting.
Unless given advanced notice to the Student Body Secretary and the absence is excused, a member of a Collaboration Group’s failure to provide evidence of attendance to the weekly meeting to the Student Body Secretary will result in an unexcused tardy.
Section 6. Records
All Collaboration Group records shall be available for public inspection.
Section 7. Budget
Collaboration Groups will not be allocated a budget except in special circumstances as deemed appropriate by the Executive Committee and Finance Committee.
and,
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that these changes to the Student Senate By-Laws take immediate effect.
Respectfully Submitted,
Blake Rainey
Student Body President
Nicki Fletcher
Student Body Vice President
Will Jones
Student Body Secretary
Nathan DeVera
Student Senate Parliamentarian
Kelsey Shipman
Pre-Major Senator
David Shirzad
Cox Senator
My thoughts:
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This piece of legislation was passed unanimously within the Senate chamber. The italicized portion of the text was contended in the chamber by several members of the Senate and was voted on separately, passing by a margin of 37-5. Voted yes in both cases because this allows for Senators to become more flexible when interacting with their constituents. The italicized text will ultimately make us more accountable not only to the executive committee of the Student Senate (which was the primary source of contention), but to the student body of SMU.