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An emergency meeting of the Student Government Association Senate was held last week, but as the 7 p.m. start time neared, Senate leaders scrambled to fill quorum.
As students and senators gathered in the SAC Campus Preview room where the meeting was held, Senate leaders began looking for proxies to stand in for senators who did not show up for the meeting.
SGA officials asked several students who were already in the meeting room about serving as proxies for those who were absent, despite an SGA policy that requires this be done in writing before a meeting.
Still, Senate Speaker Maria Wimsatt, a senior marketing major, said, “I only know of the one [student being asked to serve as a proxy] whenever I was standing right there.” She said once the roll was called, however, there were enough senators and council members present to meet quorum.
Four students ended up serving as proxies for senators or other voting council members, according to Senate records.
Executive Vice President Brian Hoffman, a junior political science and economics major, said only two voting members provided advance notice of their absences in order to designate proxies, as is required by the SGA constitution.
Article 5.10.5 of the document states, “If a Senator is unable to attend a particular meeting, he shall submit a letter of explanation to be approved by the Executive Vice President before the meeting is called to order.
