The Student Government Association juggled two resignations and appointments at its Jan. 28 meeting.

It also outlined plans to prevent the university from losing almost $9 million.

The Senate appointed two new senators even as it announced the resignation of another senator and a judicial council member.

The two who relinquished their positions cited excessive workloads as the cause.

“This semester is going to be brutal on me. I don’t have the time for commit to SGA,” former judicial council member Brian Roemer wrote in his letter of resignation.

Former senator Jessica Hare wrote in her letter of resignation that she had “taken on far too many responsibilities.”

Roemer’s resignation leaves the already understaffed judicial council with two empty seats.

However, the Senate is in a better position than the judicial council. Even though Hare has left SGA, two new senators were voted in with no nay votes.

Cassie Haynes, a nursing/pre-med major, said that as senator she’d work to create a nursing library. She also noted that she’d always been involved in politics, so it seemed like a natural step for her.

Michelle Eviston was also confirmed as a senator. She said she’d been in SGA before and had worked on improving the meal plans.

These changes leave just 29 senators.

Although SGA President Alyse Bender said she is planning constitutional amendments to reduce the size of the Senate, she said she is nevertheless bound by the constitution to maintain a quorum of 30 senators.

SGA also announced a campaign to lobby Frankfurt with petitions from Northern Kentucky University students during homecoming week.

The plan calls for three to four laptops to be placed in the University Center every day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. There, NKU students, faculty and staff will be able to, with senators’ assistance if necessary, e-mail their representatives in the commonwealth’s government.

It will also display several fact boxes detailing how NKU is lagging behind its sister institutions, citeing such statistics as the $12 million less it receives compared to other public institutions.

Bender said she hopes the campaign will stifle Governor Beshear’s possible 15 percent budget cuts during the next year.

“That’s $8 to $9 million that will not be in our budget,” she said. “We’re just asking for more money for higher education.”

To motivate students, SGA will be raffling one free iPod shuffle every day among those who participate.

Even those who aren’t residents of Kentucky can help, Bender said.

“They still go here, they still benefit from the university,” she said. Bender added that although she’s hoping for a big turnout, it’s quality, not quantity.

“You don’t necessarily need 100 people. If you have 20 dedicated individuals, you can get a lot done,” she said.

Dean of Students Matt Brown also briefly spoke about the Norse Alert system, which students can enroll to be notified via text message of any campus emergencies.