The Student Government Association held the first round of E-Board nominations and introduced an amendment to the legislative bylaws to amend the resolution process to the senate floor at the Feb. 17 meeting.
Incumbent President Angela El-Jazzar, a junior, and Chair of the Academics Committee Stephen Merrick, a sophomore, were both nominated for president.
With current Vice President Stephen Rykola graduating at the end of this semester, the position is open for next year. Current Secretary Tara Maltese and Chair of the Diversity Committee Stephen Murnane were nominated to run for vice president.
Isabella Tencer, senator for the class of 2025, was nominated for secretary. Senator for the Class of 2024 Olivia Pacheco and Class of 2025 Senator Gabrielle Abdelnoer were both nominated for treasurer.
Rykola proposed an amendment to the election rules that would keep all campaigning and related materials virtual. Similar to last year, candidates will be prohibited from using posters or any other physical objects in their campaigns.
“It’s important we’re following safety procedures to keep people safe and keep campaigning at a virtual level,” said Rykola. “Something we’ve seen in the past is that it allows for a greater outreach for students, because tendencies are, as we’ve seen in buildings like the Sawyer building in the past, you can put up a campaign poster and the next day someone will put up a poster right over yours. It’s extremely frustrating, being a candidate myself once.”
The rule change passed the senate with the of majority senators in favor and four opposing.
The senate also voted on an amendment to legislative bylaws which passed with 24 senators in favor, zero opposing and zero abstaining after being introduced by members of the Student Judiciary Review Board (SJRB).
The amendment essentially got rid of the pre-veto that allowed the E-Board members to veto proposed legislation before it made its way to the senate floor. Now, once the resolution passes through SJRB, the E-Board can only veto after a vote has taken place.
Stephen Merrick advocated the passing of the bylaws, after similar bylaws were appealed at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year.
“These are essentially the same bylaws we did pass back in September or October, in which they passed close to unanimously,” Merrick said. “They make the Senate act more transparently and in a better manner overall, so I urge their passing.”
Senator for the Class of 2022 Melissa Contover was appointed to the elections committee, which oversees election rules and procedures.
