Trenton Michon is a member of UT Martin’s Freshman Council.
A major aspect of the responsibilities of UT Martin’s Student Government Association members is the ability to write and propose bills to be brought before both Freshman Council and the SGA Senate. Both the Freshman Council and Senate discuss the proposed bills and ultimately decide whether to approve a bill. Bill proposals are important not only to the members of SGA but also to the student body, as the subject of these bills is usually a proposal to add or change something on campus the bill’s author believes would benefit the students and/or faculty.
The 70th General Assembly has already seen and resolved nine different bill proposals over the course of the 2021 fall semester and the 2022 spring semester (as of the time of writing this article.) Here is the list of each of the proposed bills, along with a brief description of what each bill’s intention, sponsor, co-sponsor(s) and whether the bill passed the senate or not:
- SR2101: “A Resolution to Create Accessible Disk Golf Baskets at a Location on Campus”
- Sponsor: Faith Pilkington. Co-Sponsor: Evelyn Aune
- Because many students on campus enjoy playing Frisbee golf and the closest available disc golf course is roughly a thirty-minute walk away, this bill hoped to designate official on-campus locations for disc golf baskets, where students would be able to play recreationally or competitively.
- Passed
- SR2102: “A Resolution to Allow Students to Take Advantage of Counseling Services During the Summer”
- Sponsor: Evelyn Aune. Co-Sponsors: Iman Ahmed, Colby Maclin.
- Even though many students on-campus take advantage of on campus counseling and mental health services during the spring and fall semesters, currently no services exist for students over the summer who aren’t registered for summer classes. This bill aims to make these services available to all students over the summer, either in-person or online, possibly for a small fee.
- Passed
- SR2103: “A Resolution to Prohibit Homecoming Week from Falling During Midterms”
- Sponsor: Faith Pilkington. Co-sponsors: Iman Ahmed, Ryesa McGehee, Colby Maclin, Kelsea Koonce.
- In response to last semester’s homecoming celebrations falling on the same week as midterms and causing unnecessary stress for some students, this bill would prevent a similar situation from happening in the future by keeping homecoming week separate from midterm week for the fall semester.
- Passed
- SR2104: “A Resolution to Allow Graduating Students to Decorate their Caps”
- Sponsor: Iman Ahmed. Co-Sponsors: Ryesa McGehee, Faith Pilkington, Evelyn Aune.
- For graduating seniors, decorating caps prior to the graduation ceremony is seen as mode of personal expression, so as a way to boost individuality, this bill would allow seniors to tastefully and appropriately decorate their caps.
- Passed
- SR2105: “A Resolution to Extend Fall Break and Thanksgiving Break”
- Sponsor: Colby Maclin. Co-Sponsors: Kayla Walker, Evelyn Aune.
- For many students, the two-day fall break and three-day Thanksgiving break don’t provide adequate time for them to travel and spend time at home with family. The intention of this bill is to extend both fall and Thanksgiving break to a week each and compensate for the missed class time by starting the semester a week earlier in August.
- Sent back to committee revision
- SR2105 (1): “A Resolution to Extend Fall Break”
- Sponsor: Colby Maclin. Co-Sponsors: Kayla Walker, Evelyn Aune.
- This revision to SR2105 removes the suggestion to extend Thanksgiving break, instead opting just to provide a five-day fall break to students.
- Passed
- SR2106: “A Resolution to Replace HNRS 210 with a Fine Arts Gen. Ed. Course for the University Scholars Program”
- Sponsor: Abigail Honbarger
- For freshmen and sophomores in the University Scholars Program, there are a total of seven classes that are required to remain in the program. All but one of these programs also fulfill general education requirements. HNRS 210 only counts as an elective course. The purpose of this bill is to ask the honors council to reevaluate the HNRS 210 course and replace it with a class that counts towards the Fine Arts portion of students’ general required courses.
- Passed
- SR2107: “A Resolution to Update Building Directories”
- Sponsor: Colby Maclin. Co-Sponsors: Kelsea Koonce, Carter Coleman.
- To address the issue of some building directories on campus showing inaccurate information, this bill’s purpose is to give directories yearly updates, either electronically or through physical sign changes.
- Passed
- SR2108: “A Resolution to Provide Lab Equipment for Chemistry Courses”
- Sponsor: Carter Coleman. Co-Sponsors: Colby Maclin, Logan Sutton, Jordan Hardy.
- Since proper safety equipment is required to complete science labs, primarily labs for chemistry courses, this bill would establish a fund for ensuring that all students could get safety equipment for free each semester.
- Failed
- SR2109: “A Resolution to Require a Sign Language Interpreter at Major University Events”
- Sponsor: Faith Pilkington. Co-Sponsors: Iman Ahmed, Ryesa McGehee,
- To promote inclusivity during on-campus events for students or family members with hearing disabilities, this bill would require a sign language interpreter to be present at all major university events. This requirement would primarily apply to events open to the public, such as graduation ceremonies.
- Passed
The SGA senators are always hard at work coming up with new bill ideas, so expect more bills like these in the future. In addition, members of the student body can also suggest ideas to senators for new bills. Since bi-weekly senate meetings are completely open to the public, it’s possible to even debate in favor of a bill idea before the senate votes. There’s always another bill in the works.
