9-18-2018

A significant amount of the Behrend Student Government’s recent meeting was devoted to a debate surrounding the issue of Proxy Senators.  The controversy comes just in time for re-election and replacing the student body’s elected representatives. Proxy Senators are outlined in the Constitution as being, “chosen based on runner-up status of the previous senator elections, at the discretion of the President.”

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However, the feeling of many sitting members of the SGA is that these individuals are virtually becoming new senators, without the will of the student body. This problem is arising because students are being elected to the Senate, but finding themselves unable to make it to the SGA’s meetings. Stand-ins are essentially being given the same powers. Vice President Andrew Sanford told the senators that he received class schedules and based on those schedules the SGA meeting is created.  The time that was selected for meetings is based on the times available for all members to attend. Chief of Staff Safinaz Elhadary went on to inform the group that two unexcused absences would result in their expulsion from the Senate.

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“Why do we keep electing people who cannot make it to the meetings? Why don’t we elect people who are available?” asked Elizabeth Malomo, head of the Diversity Committee. Chief of Staff Safinaz Elhadary, responded that to limit the students elected by Behrend’s student body, the Constitution would have to be amended.“Then the constitution should be amended,” Malomo said, in turn.

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The debate over the constitutionality of these Proxy Senators is not new, and President John Jarecki noted that the issue would be referred to the Organizational Affairs Committee, with the possibility of an amendment being alluded to.

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One idea regarding the amendment was that Proxy Senators should be confirmed by the Senate, but the decision as to who that individual is should be left to the originally elected senator. Some of the debate surrounded the powers of senators themselves, and not the definition of Proxy Senators, admitted Jarecki, which allowed it to become somewhat derailed. The discussion went on longer than the time that had been allotted for it, and Jarecki pushed the meeting along, but it was clear that the debate had grabbed the attention of many members, and that they intended to make it a priority.