The Student Senate officially passed revised bylaws into effect on Monday, April 1. The bylaws revisions have been in production since last semester and have been a collaborative effort between President Brett Farmer, Vice President Sam Consiglio, Senate Personnel Director Lily Eisele, Parliamentarian Luke Mandli and the Internal Affairs Committee.

The previous bylaws had several issues, as Consiglio said the document was “dysfunctional.” Stephanie Pyykola, Student Senate program director, agreed the bylaws weren’t working for the body. 

“I have seen inconsistencies among chapters where specifically it would [say] the Intergovernmental Affairs Commission would be responsible for an election type thing, and then in the next chapter, it would refer to a different commission being responsible for something similar,” Pyykola said. 

Farmer said amendments have been difficult and unproductive. The complex document is now a fraction of the original size, and with its edits comes clarity and brevity. 

“Most people can’t understand how dysfunctional the document [was]. All three years that I’ve been in this work, I’ve been like, somebody just needs to fix it and I can’t believe that we have read every word of the bylaws and confidently think that they are how they should be to serve this body,” Farmer said.

At the Monday meeting, there were several final amendments put into place. Eisele amended the document to allow the personnel director to correct tiny errors in legislation, like spelling and basic grammatical errors. 

The biggest amendment made was to remove the voting ability of the housing coordinator and mascot coordinator. They will no longer be required to attend every meeting, Farmer claimed the work is far different, and they are truly not involved in the senate. 

That being said, if a coordinator would like to be involved, they could run as a senator and still hold office. 

12 representatives spoke in favor of the revised bylaws. Equity in Student Matters Senate Director Emma Velazquez said, “I am gobsmacked,” when voicing her support for the issue. 

The bill passed unanimously, and the new bylaws immediately went into effect. 

“We’ve reached a great place of excitement and functionality and efficiency within the body. I think that that’s something to be very proud of,” Consiglio said.

Farmer said the initiative has been his goal since he joined the body and now just weeks from leaving has become a defining part of his time in the senate. 

“Being at the end of the semester I’m going to miss this. It’s just been an outstanding group. They’ve been so very organized, very motivated, and then just they have great relationships with faculty and administration,” Pyykola said.

With the bylaws being revised just weeks before the end of the 67th session, the senate is looking forward to what is possible in the future.  

“It’s so rewarding and I think it’s exciting to see what can come out of it, especially so close to a new session, seeing how potential new directors can take these battles and make them their own through their work. I’m very optimistic about it, it’s exciting,” Farmer said. 

In addition to the bylaws being passed, the SOC allocation budget went through. Following SOC director Brad Heap’s resignation, intern Tia Beirne introduced the bill into the body and was glad to see it pass. 

“I’m so excited that it passed, it was a lot of hard work from everyone involved,” Beirne said.

Leick can be reached at l[email protected].