Student Senate reviewed the bylaw changes made by the Committee on Bylaw Revision and Adoption during its meeting Wednesday night.

The bylaw revisions will be tabled one week then voted on at Student Senate’s next meeting on Dec. 8.

The bylaw revisions include the addition of two new positions: the Parliamentarian of the Senate and the Office of the Senate Graphic Designer.

If approved, the Parliamentarian of the Senate will be counted as one of the voting members and be counted in the number of votes necessary to constitute a majority or 2/3 vote.

The Parliamentarian will meet with the Speaker of the Senate at least once a week to discuss agenda, legislation and all other Senate matters. They will enforce Robert’s Rules of Order, serve as the Student Secretary in absence of one and keep the order of all motions, seconds, and questions or discussion items.

The Office of the Senate Graphic Designer will be under direct supervision of the Speaker and will work closely with the Internal Affairs committee regarding social media content.

The graphic designer will also create marketing based on marketing forms submitted by Chairs of Committees, Speaker of the Senate and Executive Officers. They will submit marketing to advisers, Speaker of the Senate and designated committees, and shall request feedback.

Student Executive Vice President Payton Ade said this position will be added because it would be beneficial for Student Senate to have “somebody internally who is making our graphic designs and working with posters and advertising for us.”

Some bylaw revisions included changes to requirements senators must meet to hold office.

One revision increased the minimum cumulative Grade Point Average from 2.5 to 2.75. Ade said this revision was made because the 2.5 GPA requirement felt low for those in Student Senate.

“That’s just to show that we are student leaders on campus and make bigger decisions for the student body, and to reflect that, we use the GPA,” Ade said.

Revisions were made to the attendance policies Senators must follow, including the removal of the rule stating that in order for an absence to be considered excused, prior notification is required.

If approved, the revised bylaws would also remove the rule that a Senator is allowed up to three excused absences per semester. The revision to the attendance policies would also make it so the accumulation of three excused absences per semester will result in probation, rather than removal from office.

Ade said the changes to the attendance policies were made in case Senators cannot provide prior notification because of an emergency or sudden illness.

“Sometimes with excused absences, it’s almost impossible to have prior notification in case someone gets sick or something,” Ade said.

Another revision to the attendance policies would include academics as a reason for a Senator to request a leave of absence. As of now, the bylaw revisions include personal and health-related reasons.

“We’re all students here and our academics are important to us, so we made sure the academics is put in there for a leave of absence, because that is a top priority for us as students,” Ade said.

Bylaw revisions included changes to the responsibilities and the composition of the committees under Student Senate. If approved, the bylaw revisions would remove the requirement of having a certain number of members in a certain committee.

Ade said the rules regarding the composition of committees were removed because they were too restricting.

Another revision included the removal of the summer procedures as written in the Student Senate Bylaws. Ade said this section from the bylaws was removed by the committee because Student Senate had not been meeting over the summer the past few years, and they did not see it happening in the future.

Bylaw revisions also included adding more inclusive language, fixing grammatical errors, providing flexibility to the senators and making changes to the wording to make it clearer.

“The use of he/she was used. A lot of the time, they say he or him or her in the Senate bylaws, so we completely removed that and just changed it to the they, them, theirs series of pronouns to make it anybody who uses any kind of pronouns,” Ade said.

Kyara Morales-Rodriguez can be reached at 581-2812 or knmoralesrodriguez@eiu.edu.