SGA senate passes legislation for the first time this year
Carson Cooley talks about the Student Government Association elections at the SGA meeting on Monday, March 23, 2026.
The Student Government Association’s (SGA) senate passed four pieces of legislation on March 23. Senator Aiden Partenio said these are the first pieces of legislation passed this school year.
The documents were resolutions to:
- Create the SGA Constitutional Governance and Restructuring Committee (CGRC). Authored by Student Body Treasurer Christian Dunn and sponsored by Partenio and Student Body President Akua Acheampong.
- Phase out non-flavored bottled water sales on campus; authored by Partenio and sponsored by Central Sustainability and Acheampong.
- Open Merrill Virtual Food Hall on Fridays, authored by Partenio.
- Condemn political violence in the United States, authored by Partenio.
Once each piece of legislation is passed by the House and signed by Acheampong, Partenio said the authors and sponsors will start working to implement it. He said the resolutions help make university administrators aware of students’ concerns.
“Resolution is the first step,” Partenio said. “It's just this official statement from SGA saying this is what the students want, and so we need to start moving in that direction.”
The first document passed will create a committee outside of SGA to examine the association's governing documents. Partenio said CGRC will take input from alumni, SGA advisors and faculty who have experience with amending bylaws and constitutions.
“We need to rewrite the whole thing, because they contradict each other, and they have things that are too ambiguous, too vague, so we really need to tighten up that language,” Partenio said.
Dunn authored the legislation to provide a way to reflect on how SGA can improve.
“We can't control much, but we can control our own processes,” Dunn said.
The second piece of legislation passed will phase out non-flavored bottled water sales at campus markets, vending machines and athletic events by June 30, 2031, Partenio said.
Because the Sustainability Fee Committee approved $30,000 at the end of last year to put in more water bottle filler stations around campus, Partenio said every student will have an opportunity to refill a reusable water bottle instead.
After asking students what changes they wanted to see, Partenio proposed the third piece of legislation that was passed. The document asks for Merrill Virtual Food Hall to be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Fridays, the same hours it's open Monday through Thursday.
Partenio explained the necessity of this, saying South Community doesn’t have markets like other accommodations. Students need to walk outside or go off campus for food on Fridays.
The final piece of legislation passed by the Senate reflects that SGA condemns political violence. Partenio proposed it after taking a survey where 90% of students who responded said they support SGA condemning or denouncing political violence.
Election update
Voting for next year's executive board is open until March 27. Students can submit their ballot on the Office of Student Activities and Involvement’s Engage Central page.
Elections Director Carson Cooley said there was a brief technical error where students were unable to vote on the page from about 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on March 23. Anyone who attempted to vote during that time frame can try again now.
Cooley said the winning ticket will be announced on March 28 on SGA’s and Student Activities and Involvement’s social media.
In other news:
Last year, Student Body President Kathryn House and Acheampong campaigned that they would do graduation cap and gown rentals if elected. While in office, they learned the gowns are made of recycled water bottles and can't be washed easily. House said this would make it unhygienic to rent them as they initially planned.
To still make caps and gowns accessible to students, she said they are doing an unspecified number of giveaways. The association gave away its second graduation cap and gown during the general board meeting on March 23.
