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The student news site of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

The Daily Eastern News

The student news site of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

The Daily Eastern News

A busy night for student government

The Executive Compensation bylaw failed to pass in the student government meeting.

First there was a motion to refer the bylaw back to committee.

“I think it would be best to send it back to committee to make necessary changes,” said Michael Stopka, student senator and bylaw co-author.

There were contrasting opinions on the issue of sending the bylaw back to the committee.

“I don’t think that it should go back to committee, I don’t see why we should draw this out for any longer,” said Jarrod Scherle, a student senate member.

Mary Lane, a student senate member, elaborated on this.

“The research should have been done before this was presented to us,” Lane said.

Michelle Murphy, student body president, also commented.

“I think we should just scrap it, and let’s start over,” Murphy said.

The vote to send the bylaw back to committee failed so it was put up for discussion and a vote.

“The tuition cap makes it seem like more of a salary than a scholarship,” Scherle said.

Stopka reinforced the idea to vote without bias.

“The vote that you carry is your own vote, don’t let anyone pressure you,” Stopka said.

John Poshepny, student senate member, voiced his opinion in the discussion.

“This bill has more holes in it than Swiss cheese,” Poshepny said.

The vote to pass the bylaw failed, almost unanimously.

“I think as the bylaw stood, it was not responsible to pass it. It did not benefit enough to merit passing. I was happy to see it rejected but I think it could be reconsidered in the future,” said Zach Samples, a student senate member.

There were many reactions to the failure of the bylaw.

Kaci Abolt, a student senate member, thought that the failure was a good decision and provoked good discussion.

There was also a motion to CoCo, Committee for Constitutional Oversight, which meant reconvening the student government constitution to make necessary amendments.

The reason behind this motion was the inconsistency that was mentioned by Don Stone, a student supreme court justice, at the previous student government meeting.

“If our constitution and our bylaws are not matching up, we need a change, we need cohesiveness,” said Tyson Holder, a student senate member.

The motion to CoCo failed.

There were reactions to the failure to pass CoCo.

“A student brought an issue to us, we are student government, we should fix the issue that is presented. We should work to fix those inconsistencies,” Samples said.

Samples also discussed what he learned from the meeting.

“I learned that this is going to be more involved than what I thought, which is a good thing, whether people see it this way or not, what we do here directly affects students,” Samples said.

Samples also discussed that students with a concern could meet with him anytime.

There were also many approvals mentioned, two of which being the approval of Mackenzie Rollins as graphic designer to the student government, and Kris Caldwell as webmaster.

“I’m pretty much savvy in whatever you guys want,” Caldwell said.

The student government meets every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Arcola-Tuscola Room in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-7942 or rjrodgers@eiu.edu

A busy night for student government

A busy night for student government

Student Senator Michael Stopka rises from his seat for what he said was the first time in his student governme career during a debate about a bylaw that would cap the amount of financial aid executives would get at the student government meeting on Wednes

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