The Student Government Association adopted resolution 010 at Sunday night’s meeting, which amended the SGA bylaws to inherently allow voting on a resolution the same night it is heard.

Previously, the bylaws stated that a resolution had to be heard at two different meetings before being voted on. Motivation for the resolution came from this SGA’s tendency to suspend that particular bylaw.

SGA President Austin Mehmet said that frequently suspending the rules showed a “lack of respect” for the bylaws, while various SGA senators voiced concerns over trading “transparency for efficiency,” as summarized by Trustee Nathan Hoffman.

The most vocal opponent to the resolution was Senator-At-Large Joe Monak, whose main concern in enacting the change was that passing resolutions at the first hearing would inhibit the student body’s ability to voice their opinions on important or controversial topics.

SGA members in support of the resolution, including Parliamentarian Grant Gustafson and Peoria Campus Senator Daniel Kelly, noted that the change was intended for topics that the student body generally isn’t concerned about, and that voting on controversial resolutions can still be postponed or tabled for further discussion in another meeting, should SGA find such action necessary.

“By the sounds of it, this resolution isn’t trying to get important issues passed quickly,” Kelly said. “It sounds like it’s to get … internal issues passed quickly.”

The resolution passed with Monak offering the only dissenting vote.

Sunday night’s meeting also saw the adoption of resolution 011, which implemented a task force to advocate for the advancement of the Curricular Practical Training program.

The CPT program allows international students to gain work and internship experience that restrictions on student visas would normally prohibit. As it stands, CPT only currently exists for the Management Information Services, or MIS, program.

According to Business and Management Senator Kaelan Smith, multiple SGA senators have been attempting to monitor and assist the advancement of the program on their own, and the task force would simply bring those senators and their efforts together.

Smith said, “I truly believe that this is one of the most important issues that we can be working on this year.”

The SGA also appointed a new Speaker of the Senate. Smith, Kelly, and Freshman Student Senator Keith Williams II put their names in for consideration.

Each candidate spoke to the SGA about their qualifications and attributes that would benefit them in the role. Afterwards, the rest of the SGA held a closed-door executive session, during which the candidates and all non-SGA personnel left the room.

Once they completed the session, the SGA cast their votes. Gustafson tallied the votes and announced Kelly as the new Speaker.

SGA officers and committee chairs then offered their bi-weekly reports. Hoffman noted that Chancellor Susan Koch granted $10,000 to resolve safety concerns over the quality of campus lighting. The concerns, Mehmet pointed out, were documented and brought forth by the SGA.

Treasurer Christopher Vemagiri Marbaniang mentioned the recently discovered issue of misuse of funds by some student organizations. The Student Organization Funding Association (SOFA) will review the issue further.

Grace Rosado, the internal vice president, updated the SGA on the status on the Campus Safety Committee’s “Protect the Prairie” event that will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. in PAC C/D.

The next SGA meeting will be on Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. in the PAC TV studio. The meeting will be broadcast on the campus television channels, as well as live-streamed through Information Technology Services. Recordings of previous meetings can be found at http://www.uis.edu/informationtechnologyservices/connect/webcasting/webcasting-sga/.