Tim Asher, associate director of Campus Activities, outlined new potential requirements for club executive boards at the Student Government Association (SGA) meeting last Wednesday.
The office of Campus Activities is reviewing student leadership criteria standards for students who lead campus organizations. Asher explained that all executive board members of recognized clubs must have at least a 2.0 GPA and at least 12 credits.
A GPA of 2.5 or above is required for students seeking executive board positions in a governance organization, judicial board or college standing committee, according to the Student Leadership Criteria booklet given to every SGA member. Student leaders receiving a stipend and representatives to the Campus Activities board would also be affected.
Also, the office of Campus Activities will now require the names of candidates in order to check their GPAs and discipline records. Formerly, the office would wait until students were elected, sometimes having to pull the students from their new positions if they were unqualified.
Any students that don't meet the criteria and want to serve on an executive board must appeal to SGA.
Asher also spoke about working to "reestablish the Campus Activities board," which has not been active in four to five years. The board will be made up of 12 permanent student organizations' members. There will also be 12 clusters of organizations with a representative from each cluster. "We wanted opinions from students who don't come to our office every day," Asher said.
"These new requirements send a message to student organizations and other schools that the College is raising the bar for its students, especially those seeking leadership positions," Lee Whitesell, senator of culture and society, said.
A bill regarding the role of The Signal in SGA elections was also accepted. The bill, sponsored by Dan Cuellar, senator of culture and society, states that "candidates may use The Signal ... for campaigning purposes." However, candidates are still forbidden to purchase campaign ads in The Signal.
This allows candidates to write letters to the editor but prohibits placing paid advertisements in the paper. The bill passed easily, though not all SGA members were pleased with it.
"I was very hesitant to support it because I feel that a bill that allows this much freedom to candidates can easily break the spirit of the rules in the election," Jonathan Cherng, former senator- at-large, said.
Also, the Nexus Trade Book Exchange Club was officially recognized as an organization. It is a nonprofit group that puts students in contact with each other to buy or sell textbooks.
Additionally, SGA swore in 15 new senators, filling the spaces vacated last semester. It was also announced that the tsunami relief fund, which officially ended Jan. 31, raised $2,500. The count is still unfinished.
Finally, SGA's first radio show on WTSR will air every Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
