The Independent Student Newspaper of Northern Kentucky University.

The Northerner

The Independent Student Newspaper of Northern Kentucky University.

The Northerner

The Independent Student Newspaper of Northern Kentucky University.

The Northerner

SGA to amend constitution

At its meeting March 3, Student Government Association says it plans to amend its constitution by only having one election a year, as well as announcing a letter to encourage House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to visit campus

Having a Spring election would increase voter turnout and would ensure the election would be more competitive, SGA President Alyse Bender said.

Bender added that new senators mid-year changes the momentum of SGA.

She noted that the whole Senate has to reverse back to square one and teach all the new senators the inner workings of SGA.

The next area they proposed is to reduce the number of justices from five to three and have them appointed by the Senate.

Bender added that the Judicial Council is never full and by appointing them it would encourage the justices to be more involved.

The other areas proposed is to clean up the language in the constitution, having the Fall and Spring retreats be the first meeting of the semester and having earlier April elections.

SGA has announced that it has sent a letter to Pelosi, requesting that she visit campus.

Bender said Pelosi is set to come in April on her temporary schedule, but if it doesn’t work out she will come in November.

Bender added that if Pelosi comes in April it would be more beneficial for NKU’s future since the budget cuts would be decided soon after.

SGA said Pelosi speaking at NKU would be a part of SGA’s iCare iniative and bring it to a national level

SGA also proposed a way to help students utilize their meal plans more efficiently.

“The Takeout Resolution,” which had its first reading, advises a takeout food system in the Norse Commons be in place no later than the 2009-10 school year.

SGA stated the reason they set to implement it in the 2009-10 school year is due to Chartwells’ policy, which says that changes to meal plans must be made a year in advance.

Bender said she thinks the opportunity for takeout would be beneficial since there is a large percentage of students involved in outside activities.

She added that this resolution would let students “feel like they are getting their money’s worth” with their meal plans.