Throughout October, the MSMS Student Government Association Senate debated and voted on broad pieces of legislation, such as bills to support student academics and residence life, a resolution encouraging SGA awareness, a constitutional amendment to add representatives to the Senate and a motion to impeach a senator. Toward the end of the month, Senate Committee elections were also conducted.
The Legislation
Banipal introduces bill modifying the Multiple Test Form policy
Sen. Jasmaan Banipal proposed a bill to consider major assignments such as projects, papers or other assessments relating to English, mathematics, science, social studies and language classes within the Multiple Test Form policy. He cited students’ generally heavy workload and poor sleep health as the main reasons for pushing this bill. The legislation would give busy students more grace than the policy currently provides.
Sen. Isabel Beckman voiced her support for Sen. Banipal’s bill and said it would alleviate students’ stress, give them more time to study for tests and provide them with more time to work on the assignments. Sen. Minh Nguyen disagreed with this bill, pointing out being at MSMS is supposed to simulate college life, and it is in students’ best interest to start learning how to manage responsibilities. He also brought up how major assignments are usually given ample time to complete, and procrastination and mismanagement of time is not an excuse. Sen. Jaelyn Lister expressed similar beliefs regarding student procrastination. Sen. Landon Rymer noted procrastination is not always a factor when students are overwhelmed with assignments.
The bill was failed by the Senate.
Mantri introduces resolution to inform student body on Senate happenings through a website
Sen. Ananya Mantri proposed a resolution to create an SGA website to better inform the MSMS student body of SGA proceedings. The main goal of this resolution is to better allow the students to become more vocal about what they want to see implemented in the student body.
Sens. Walt Giesen and Claire Rhee disagreed with this resolution and said SGA Press Secretary Rebecca Sun is already working with The Vision to cover Senate updates for the student body. Rymer and Sens. Annaliese Coughlin and Amaya Savage voiced their support for this resolution, noting a website isn’t difficult to create. Beckman said she is not opposed to the idea if Mantri could make the website.
Her resolution was not passed by the Senate.
Rymer reintroduces modified bill on level-three policy at the request of administration
Rymer modified, according to administration’s wishes, his bill on allowing students with a level-three violation to appeal for a higher privilege plan after one year if behavioral improvement has been shown.
His bill was passed by the Senate.
Administration passed the bill and said the handbook update will occur in January, but appeals may begin immediately.
Anderson and Rhee introduce a constitutional amendment to add the role of representative into Senate
Sen. Anna Anderson and Rhee proposed a constitutional amendment to add four representatives — a Senate position for MSMS students who are not senators, class officers or honor court justices — who both propose legislation and participate in Senate discussion. However, they cannot vote on any Senate legislation or motions.
Nguyen said he doesn’t see any harm in having representatives among senators, mentioning more Senate representation is worth trying out. Sen. Katie Chung disagreed with this legislation, expressing representatives are too similar to senators. A. Coughlin voiced her support for this constitutional amendment and said, “Senator elections can sometimes be a popularity contest, especially on floor. [The representative position] offers [students] a way to be active without having won an election because it can be a popularity contest.”
The bill was passed by the Senate, and the SGA officers, after making several changes, passed their constitutional amendment. The SGA officers disagreed with the rule of representatives only being allowed to run once a year and also removed the aspect of senators having legislation presentation priority over representatives. Additionally, representatives will be required to present a bill for the second semester Senate term but not the first semester.
Coughlin introduces bill to alter student attendance protocol in case of teacher absence
Sen. Caspian Coughlin proposed a bill to allow students to email their attendance in scenarios where teachers are absent, rather than physically sign in at the office.
Nguyen expressed concern about this bill, as a similar one had been proposed in the past and did not get through the Chamber because of the administration’s concerns about student whereabouts. Sen. Jolanna Jackson cited liability issues for administration could be a roadblock for this bill. Rhee and Anderson expressed similar concerns that administration will likely not pass this bill. A. Coughlin voiced her support for this bill and said senators shouldn’t pass or fail bills on the assumption the administration won’t pass them.
Administration tabled Coughlin’s bill, with Director for Academic Affairs Thomas Easterling expressing concerns regarding school security. Easterling also said parents may be concerned about this bill’s passing. While he does not currently support the bill, Easterling said he will discuss it with his academic team. He also recommended Coughlin modify his bill so it does not infringe on Mississippi Code.
The bill was passed by the Senate.
Chung and Hu introduce bill to keep laundry efficient with a sign-in sheet
Chung and Sen. Daniel Hu proposed a bill creating a system to ensure laundry does not remain in either the washer or dryer past a certain timeframe through the use of a sign-in sheet.
Sen. Lillie Thompson and Lister both voiced their support for this bill. After Chung said assigned days to do laundry was proposed by Residence Life staff as an alternative, Sen. Sonora Foster voiced her support for this bill out of disagreement with the aforementioned proposition. However, she did also express concern over student cooperation in signing the sheet.
Their bill was passed by the Senate.
Administration liked the bill, with Director for Student Affairs Stacey Holmes specifically noting how this is a significant issue. Administration will discuss the implementation with Residence Life staff.
Tran introduces bill to extend lights out time
Sen. Khang Tran proposed a bill to allow students to continue studious endeavors after lights-out time. Tran reasoned the existing policy is rarely enforced currently and puts a restraint on students who have substantial academic workloads.
Rhee opposed the passing of this bill and said, “[Residence Hall staff] would mostly reject that bill to prioritize our health.” Anderson opposed this bill as well, citing how she had presented a similar bill last year, but administration rejected it due to concerns about student well-being and parent peace of mind.
The bill was not passed by the Senate.
Jean-Pierre makes motion to impeach Banipal
Sen. Angelle Jean-Pierre made a motion to impeach Banipal. After the motion made it through the first of two rounds of votes by the Senate, the SGA officers reviewed the case and determined the offenses Sen. Jean-Pierre referenced from both last year and this year were not sufficient to impeach Banipal. His offenses did not violate the SGA Constitution, and the officers emphasized their desire to support second-year senators who have grown and have the potential to grow from the previous year. Because no serious misconduct occurring this year was attributed to Banipal, the SGA officers did not recognize any merit in the motion.
The SGA officers unanimously rejected Jean-Pierre’s motion.
Jackson, Storment reintroduce resolution to increase signage indicating MSMS areas in cafeteria
Jackson and Sen. Bea Storment reintroduced their resolution to the Chamber after making revisions to the wording administration did not approve of. The signs will serve as a reminder to Hogarth patrons that certain areas are reserved for MSMS students and faculty.
The Chamber made no comments and immediately passed the resolution.
Administration passed the resolution. The goal is to have new signage installed by January. Holmes noted specifically if any incidents occur in the meantime between MSMS and Mississippi University for Women students, students should contact her directly.
Chung, Rai introduce bill to support students coming back from events late
Chung and Sen. Anya Rai proposed a bill to allow students who arrive at or past midnight from sports or other school-related events and competitions to be excused from the first period of the day. With sleep being an important factor for academic success, they argued adequate rest for students should be ensured and students should not be punished for participating in extracurricular activities that ran late.
Senators largely supported this bill, with Anderson highlighting how this is an issue administration has not yet considered. Other senators who voiced their support were Nguyen, Mantri, Savage, and Sens. Krish Desai and Ryan Wei.
Their bill passed the Senate, but administration failed this bill, with Easterling specifically pointing out academics are the primary reason students attend MSMS, and any accommodations will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis rather than as an official policy.
Elections held to elect senators to committees
The MSMS Senate has three committees, each composed of two senators and a presiding SGA officer. The senators in each committee work together through deeper research to create large-scale change relating to their committee. Elections were held during October, and the following senators were elected to the three Senate committees:
Academics Committee
President John Broome
Anderson
Hu
Residence Life Committee
Vice President Jake Heisler
Chung
Lister
Mental Health Committee
Secretary Aanya Banga
Mantri
Rai
