The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

Personnel changes in Student Government

Student Government, Inc. recently underwent a number of personnel changes.

The group, which is in charge of all student organizations, both gained and lost members in recent days.

Along with the addition of 14 new members, several members were either reassigned or released from their duties.

Ten new members were introduced after the Fall 2005 Representative Elections. Fall elections are held primarily to elect freshmen representatives, but are also used to fill any vacancies.

Nine of the newly-elected members are freshmen, while one member was a sophomore elected into a vacant seat.

Along with the expected changes, however, came several unexpected personnel changes.

Three committee chairs either resigned or were fired from their positions. Both the Research and Development Committee and the School Spirit Committee lost one of the co-chairs, both of whom were replaced by students who were not already members of SGI. Michael Perez and John Kelly were appointed to the respective positions.

The Student Affairs Committee also lost a co-chair, who chose to resign. She was replaced by Amanda Hill, who has previously served as a representative on SGI.

Along with these necessary changes, the executive board also chose to add to existing committees.

Both the Organizations Committee and the Public Relations Committee gained a co-chair.

According to Student Government Secretary Rachel Besharat, the committees are two of the largest and most complex on SGI and needed extra assistance.

The existing co-chairs were doing their jobs well, but more help was needed because of the amount of work each committee must due, Besharat said.

“We brought a lot of people in who are going to be able to help in extra capacities,” SGI President Rich Masana said.

The new additions to the various committees were solely under the discretion of the executive board of SGI, Masana continued.

Committee chairs are not elected and are instead appointed by the executive board after spring elections are held.

If a representative is added at any time other than during elections, the floor of government must vote. However, because all of the new members were either voted in or were committee chairs, no approval by the floor was necessary.

Masana is hopeful that the new members will help Student Government do more of the work they set out to do at the beginning of the semester.

The group had difficulties in the past several weeks with meeting quorum, which is necessary for regular meetings to be held.

“It’s been a much better week for Student Government,” Masana said, “but we can still do more.”

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