SG Update 02/15

SG Elections Process

Sara Bayerl, application administrator and business analyst in Assessment, Technology and Communications, reviewed the candidacy process for Student Government (SG) elections. Students who intend to run for an SG position must fill out a candidate verification form by either stopping by the SG office or, if on co-op or study abroad, filling it out online to ensure their eligibility to run. Students running for positions in Global Union, ALANA Collegiate Association, NTID Student Congress, OUTspoken or women’s senator must state that they self-identify with the community they are aiming to represent.

Once a student is determined eligible, they will receive a single sheet of paper that outlines the steps they must take to proceed in the candidacy run. A unique petition code will be given to each candidate which can be used to generate a QR code. This QR code will allow signatures to be collected from constituents.

In previous years, candidates had large paper packets on which constituents would sign and provide personal information. This year’s switch to an electronic method for collecting signatures helps in a number of ways: it’s sustainable by cutting back on the amount of paper provided to the many candidates, it ensures the security of students’ personal information and it makes the authentication process by SG administrators much more efficient.

In order to get their necessary signatures, candidates must ensure that students log into CampusGroups. Students do not need the app to use CampusGroups, but can simply go to the website and use their RIT login information. The guideline packet for each specific SG position outlines how many signatures and statements of support a candidate needs to be able to run for elections. Guideline packets are available for pick-up in the SG office by eligible students starting on Feb. 18, 2019. Since signatures cannot be physically counted on paper anymore, candidates can request data reports up to twice a week to help keep track of their progress.

Unlike other SG candidates, those interested in running for OUTspoken president do not collect signatures. Instead, they must fill out an "intent to run" form. 

SG Elections Dates

SG President and fourth year Environmental Science major Bobby Moakley and SG Vice President and fifth year Mechanical Engineering Technology major Corinne Mendietta presented on the the important dates for upcoming SG elections.

Monday, Feb. 18, 2019 at 9 a.m. was the elections kick-off.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019 at 12 p.m. is the deadline for candidates to submit all necessary components, along with signatures, to the SG office.

By Friday, March 15, 2019, candidates found to be ineligible to run will be notified by the SG office.

Sunday, March 17, 2019 at 12:01 a.m. is the earliest that candidates can begin campaigning for elections. Candidates will be disqualified if they begin campaigning any earlier.

Friday, March 22, 2019 will be a town hall event during which students can listen to and question candidates.

Student can begin casting their vote on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 at 12:01 a.m.

Voting ends at midnight on Wednesday, March 27, 2019.

Results will be announced on Friday, March 29, 2019 at the end of the SG senate meeting.

Senate Report

Jacob Ellis, academics and co-ops committee chair and second year International Business and Finance double major, looked into the question of why there is no MyCourses app. This issue was brought up by a PawPrints petition.

“The company that hosts that platform — a few years ago [they] worked on creating an app, but because of major pushback from other universities across the country that said they preferred a mobile-optimized version, they dropped support for the app and switched over to a mobile-optimized version, which is what we have now,” said Ellis.

Ellis doubts that an app will be created any time soon by the company. He also shared that the reason we do not use the Blackboard platform is because RIT has had issues with them in the past. Every two years, a survey is done to see the approval rate of MyCourses by faculty. Faculty are often in favor of the platform 70 to 30, so there seems to be no reason to switch to a new company.

An update is still on the way as to whether faculty are appropriately using the MyCourses platform for their courses.

Bylaw Change

Just in time for the upcoming SG elections, SG unanimously passed a new bylaw stating that students running for candidacy are not permitted to solicit signatures from their constituents through social media, flyers or email. All signature collection must be done through face-to-face interactions.

Pro-tempore

Anika Aftab, SOIS Senator and Organizational Strategy & Healthcare Administration major, was approved for the position of pro-tempore by SG. Aftab will fill in for the SG vice president should she be unable to attend a meeting.

Policy C23

The proposed rewrite of policy C23 led to heavy discussion and the creation of a committee. This committee, after months of consideration, has agreed to change the original rewrite of policy C23 so that student employees in supervisory positions are permitted to be in romantic relationships with their inferiors. The students will simply be required to disclose their relationship to an immediate superior. To become official, the policy must be passed in March by the University Council.