The Missouri Students Association’s fall elections, which closed on Nov. 9, addressed underrepresentation of some academic colleges in the Missouri Students Association Senate and fixed a constitutional error by which the MSA president was set to be inaugurated before they were elected.
The College of Engineering and the Sinclair School of Nursing, both colleges that previously didn’t have representation in MSA Senate, now both have a senator representing their college as a result of the academic college election. However, the College of Education, the School of Natural Resources and the School of Health Professions still do not have representation in Senate.
MSA will enter the spring semester with 17 of 70 seats vacant. The number is an improvement from earlier in the semester, when the organization began the year with 23 vacant seats.
Ten academic college senators have been elected for the spring 2017 semester. Two of these incoming senators are students in the College of Engineering and Sinclair School of Nursing, the academic colleges that have been underrepresented by MSA Senate in the past.
“After reapportionment and after the beginning of next semester, we will see what schools are going to be our main focus heading into the next election in March,” Senate Speaker Mark McDaniel said.
In addition to the academic college election, a constitutional amendment referendum, Bill 56-03, passed with 82 percent approval from the student body. Bill 56-03 officially changes the inauguration date for the MSA Executive Cabinet.
Last March, students voted in a referendum to modify the MSA constitution and change the presidential election date from November to March. However, this referendum left out the presidential inauguration dates, which conflict with the election dates.
“Right now, it says that the president and vice president must be sworn in at the first full Senate meeting of the winter semester, which is impossible, because the president and vice president are not even elected until March,” McDaniel told the Maneater in September.
The referendum passed Nov. 9 fixes the conflicting dates in the constitution so that the president and vice president are elected before inauguration.
“The referendum also helps us stay on track and align with the other student governments on campus as well now,” Board of Election Commissioners Chairwoman Brooke Wiggins said.
_Edited by Emily Gallion | egallion@themaneater.com_
