By ALICIA FEYERHERM
Tiger Media Network
Online Student Government Association (OSGA) had its monthly meeting on Monday.
New business for the meeting dealt with amendments to the bylaws. Senate Affairs Chair Benjamin Keliojor reviewed the changes.
Some changes were minor, such as replacing all references of OSS (Online Student Senate) with OSGA (Online Student Government Association) to reflect the name change.
The amendment also included changes to the eligibility requirements for senators. Currently, undergraduate students must be enrolled in six credit hours and the changes reduce that requirement to three credit hours.
“Some online students, you know, they’re busy, so they do a class at a time and also limits a certain amount of students to actually join the Senate,” Keliojor said. “We thought three credits was appropriate.
The GPA requirement to join was also changed from 2.5 to 2.0.
“I believe the school also has that same requirement for academic success, which is 2.0, so we thought ‘why not mirror that?’” Kiliojor said.
When swearing in new members, currently only the President or the Senate Affairs Committee chair can administer that oath. The changes amend this so that another member of the Senate Affairs could also administer the oath.
An appendix titled “Articles of OSGA President and Vice President” was added. The section states that the President can appoint a Vice President without a voting process.
“The President can pick who they want to be their Vice President,” Keliojor said.
Keliojor said since OSGA is now its own organization, there should be a Vice President in addition to the President. Keliojor directed senators to the full document to see all the changes before motioning to approve the amendment. The amendment passed unanimously.
Other highlights from the meeting:
- Tavia Foley, an Elementary Education student from Kansas City, was sworn in as a new senator.
- OSGA President Heather Flick and Public Relations Officer Eileen Moore met with the faculty advisor and President for The Associated Students of Washington State University Global. Washington State has had an online student government since the late 1990s and provided information on how they run their organization.
- Over 500 students have responded to the online student survey designed by OSGA. The survey closes on December 31.
The next OSGA meeting will be at 6 p.m. CST on January 20, 2025.