SGA working to fix issue with no quorum in congress

SGA established the Constitutional Revision Committee to review a structurally unconstitutional section of the SGA constitution.

"New business can be conducted once the committee comes up with a resolution," said Keri Brockett, SGA president.

The committee will determine any possible changes to the SGA constitution, Brockett said.

"At present, SGA congress has about 12 members that are elected at large in campus-wide elections," said Corey King, assistant vice chancellor for student experiences.

"SGA congress currently has about 50-60 funded organizations. According to the SGA constitution, there should be about 110-130 members of congress, thus the quorum being 56-66 qualified members," King said.

Article II, section IV of the constitution requires congress to be composed of: representatives from all student organizations who receive annual funding from SGA, and representatives-at-large must be equal to the number of annually funded student organizations, and one representative from each on-campus residence hall must become an elected member of congress.

Abey Dessie, SGA attorney general, ruled that Article II is structurally unconstitutional at the Oct. 22 congress meeting.

However, Dessie also ruled that SGA congress may continue to perform official business such as approving new organizations, granting emergency funding, voting on student fees and passing resolutions that respond to university policies and procedures.

Brockett issued an executive order establishing a SGA Constitutional Task Force consisting of five members from the legislative branch, three members of the executive branch, two members of the judicial branch and two at-large student organization members.

This revision committee will recommend a composition of the SGA congress that will enable the legislative body to act in an effective collective assembly with the ability to achieve and maintain quorum, King said.

"This task force shall be further authorized to make any additional recommendations for changes to the SGA constitution and general statutes," said King.

Recommendations would be made to the SGA Oversight Committee and approved with a general consensus from SGA congress and the vice provost for student affairs, King said.

The task force is expected to meet within the next two weeks.

This writer may be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com.