The Student Senate convened for a special session Monday to discuss constitutional revisions in preparation for Wednesday’s open forum.

Student Body President Michelle Murphy urged the 19 members in attendance to vote against raising the Student Government GPA requirement from 2.25 to 2.3.

“I don’t think there’s anything we do here that’s so academically rigorous that certain people couldn’t participate,” Murphy said. “It doesn’t keep the top from applying. We’re supposed to represent the student body, and that means all of them.”

Tiffany Turner, student speaker of the senate, briefly stepped down from her seat to encourage members to keep the requirement at 2.25.

“Sometimes students just have a crappy semester, and they shouldn’t be penalized for that,” Turner said. “If we write this legislation prematurely, it might come back to bite us.”

Conversely, Mark Olendzki, chair of the Committee for Constitutional Oversight, defended the amendment but conceded that there would be no way to enforce the GPA requirement. He suggested an incremental increase of 0.5 per semester.

Erica Whelan can be reached at 581-7942 or DENnewsdesk@gmail.com.