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News MSG votes to change constitution
By Joshua Wilwohl Editor-in-chief Student will see a change in the Mercyhurst College Student Government, as the body voted to slash the number of representatives on the government and increase the number of executive board positions. The changes come after a 23-12 vote with no abstentions to amend the current MSG constitution. MSG representatives are currently numbered at 38, with eight seniors, eight juniors, eight sophomores, eight freshmen, two commuters, one international, one intercollegiate and two residential. The change will reduce the representatives – also called senators under the new structure – to 22. The decision was made with the recommendation of the Tarant & Wymer Agency, a student government consultant. Sophomore representative Patrick Garvin said reducing the number of representatives on the government is unnecessary. "We should not take the consultant’s views (on this)," he said at the meeting. "We should listen to the students because that’s what matters." The student body will now elect two senators from the five academic schools to total 10 senators, according to the constitutional changes document made available to representatives at Monday’s meeting. The constitutional changes document also states the body would elect three senators from each of the four classes. Mercyhurst Student Government Vice President Mihailo Jovanovic, a junior, said the change will allow those who really care for MSG to be present. "The whole reason why we did this was to focus less on internal issues and more on student needs," he said. "By having a smaller and more effective number of representatives, we can do this." Freshman representative Sarah Heuer said the change is too soon. "I understand why we’re reducing it (the number)," she said. "But my concern is, is this in the best interest of the student body?" MSG Treasurer junior Christina Coovert said the cut is drastic but necessary. "We have a lot of people on MSG not doing work," she said. "We wasted a lot of time this year with internal issues because of the number of representatives we have." The new structure in the executive branch of MSG also adds two positions: MSG event coordinator and a public relations coordinator, in addition to the current president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. Under the new structure, the seven would make up the executive board. The event coordinator, according to constitutional changes document, would work with the student union office and SAC to coordinate events such as homecoming and the annual tree lighting ceremony. The MSG public relations coordinator would act as the official spokesperson for student government and would serve as a liaison between MSG and the Merciad, according to the document. The new structure will also include the creation of two new MSG committees: The mission committee and MSG event committee. The mission committee will be responsible for coordinating "… activities and events to promote diversity on and off the campus in cooperation with other RSCOs and college entities," states the document. The MSG event committee is responsible for events held by the student government and would incorporate the current senior issues committee. The committee, according to the document, will also serve as assistants to the MSG event coordinator. MSG will keep the residence life, constitutional revisions, budget and finance, college service and facilities use and publicity committees. SAC will also see a change under the new structure. The document states no student can be a member of SAC and act as a senator on MSG. This differs from the current structure that allows students to participate in both organizations. Sophomore representative Dinorah Sanchez said the change could be costly. "Having people on both really links between the two," she said. "By having MSG and SAC sit between each other allows different views." Coovert said the change is for the better as based on experience. "I feel like last year I was stretched thin being on both MSG and SAC," she said. "There’s a ton of things I worked on last year that went unnoticed because I was on both." Jovanovic said the change of the representatives and executive board will affect scholarships, but were not discussed at Monday’s meeting. "Right now, scholarships are not part of the constitution and were not voted upon," he said. Elections for the executive board, under the new changes,
will take place the last week in March. Elections for MSG senators will occur
the third week
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