SGA unanimously shows opposition to Mizzou change

At the UM-St. Louis Student Government Association assembly on Friday, Vice Provost of Student Affairs Curt Coonrod opened the meeting calling for, "A year of pride." Students showed their pride by voting on two resolutions.

In a unanimous vote by the SGA Assembly, a resolution was passed which would condemn the UM-Columbia name change.

Overall, 72 voting members were present, none of whom abstained or dissented from the vote against the name change.

The resolution was drawn up by the SGA executive board and presented to the assembly for discussion. Bryan Goers, SGA president, cited a few articles and Web sites regarding the change.

The resolution highlights critical issues with the name change, saying in one clause "the students from every campus are just as integral a part of the University of Missouri System as are the student at the University of Missouri - Columbia."

Goers also encouraged students to "write your curators."

After much discussion, Goers was asked why the chancellor has not taken a stance on the issue and he turned to Coonrod for insight.

"The Chancellor is in a difficult situation." Coonrod said, adding that there was a State of the University Address being held on Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 3 p.m. in the J.C. Penney auditorium and he would not be surprised if it was mentioned. Coonrod said the address is open to all students and they are encouraged to attend.

Another resolution was passed nearly unanimously by the assembly regarding a roll call vote for the student representative to the Board of Curators. The position is currently being held by second-year law student Tony Luetkemeyer of UM-Columbia.

When votes are taken by the Board of Curators, the recorder of the Board calls on each member in alphabetical order as to their vote on any particular issue and in this resolution, students ask that the last roll call space be for the Student Curator.

The resolution passed with just one abstention, coming from the Criminology and Criminal Justice Graduate Student Association, there were no dissents.

The student's vote would not count toward the vote total, but would be "within the minutes of the Board of Curators," according to the resolution.

The last clause of the resolution calls for a continued push for a formal vote even if the students were to retain a roll call vote.

The attendance policy was also clarified at the SGA meeting, saying that representatives are not counted as present if they are more than 15 minutes late, which is a change from previous years.

The SGA constitution gives way for an attendance policy, but makes no specific mention or when a member is present.

Two years ago, under the director of SGA President Emeritus D'Andre Braddix, the attendance policy was clarified to mean that present meant present during all of the votes that would take place, mostly under action items.

*To view the resolution in its entirety please visit http://sga.umsl.edu/legislation.html.