SGA Senate Recap: October 19, 2026
By Paul Manetto
Monday’s SGA meeting began with a bang. After the opening prayer, public comment was held, in which student representatives from both the Treasury Board and the College Republicans faced off in a dispute over reimbursement charges.
The Treasury Board (TB) declined to reimburse the $600 that College Republicans (CR) President and SGA Senator Owen Lee had spent on food for meetings so far this year. TB explained that they had made clear the deadline to submit an appeal and that the CR did not demonstrate the “Extreme Circumstances” needed to grant an exception. CR countered that the communication was not clear and did not set out the appropriate time needed to seek reimbursement. Members also commented on how the club was open to all students and that providing food was a way to help build an active student body.
Before the matter could be voted on, the Senate debated Bill 3, sponsored by Senator Lee (Class of 2027), which updated the bylaws to simplify the process in which organizations could appeal TB decisions to the Senate. It also placed limits on the power of the SGA Vice President as a way to guard against future controversies. The Bill passed by a vote of 22-0 and was signed into law immediately by President Hermes, present at the meeting.
Once the bylaws had been changed, the Senate proceeded to debate the appeal. Senator Karcher (Class of 2028) and Senator Moomjy (Class of 2030) both issued statements of support for CR, with Senator Saunders (School of Nursing), Senator Sohm (School of Philosophy), and Senator Handweger (Class of 2027) questioning the ways in which the club missed the communications from the TB. Once put to a vote, the appeal passed 19-3, with the three senators above voting against. Several members of the CR were present in the crowd and cheered as the measure was adopted.
The next bill brought to debate, sponsored by Senator Lee, was the One Big Beautiful Bill for Election Integrity. The main purpose of the bill was to grant the chair of both the Senate and Executive Branch electoral committees the ability to require paper ballots. Senator Lee explained that its main purpose was to make voting easier and remove any glitches caused by voting on the Nest. When answering questions, he made clear that the power of the bill would lie in the electoral boards, with the number of polling stations and the future of online voting being determined by them. The bill passed with an 18-4 margin, with Senators Saunders, Handweger, Reyes (School of Engineering), and Keast (School of Nursing) voting against.
The rest of the meeting passed with little debate, as the two previous bills had taken up a majority of the meeting. The Senate unanimously passed both Resolution 2, which encouraged accurate textbook descriptions for courses, and Resolution 3, which asked for an app or email to replace the form needed for dorm room facilities reporting by voice vote. Resolution 3 was a priority of the executive board, with both President Hermes and Vice President Colquitt thanking the senators who worked on the resolution in their remarks to the floor.
