The Student Government Association discussed potentially forming a House of Representatives during an executive session Tuesday, Oct. 16. The senate released a statement claiming the House of Representatives could potentially be approved if a committee is formed to revise governing documents that outline the purpose and privileges of the House. 

“We, the senate, have come to the conclusion, after an executive session, that senate will potentially support the idea of the House of Representatives if and only if a senate committee is formed by President Barclay to devise the governing documents and purpose of the House of Representatives,” Jo Tremmel, Senate Parliamentarian, disclosed after executive session had ended.

Tremmel said there are currently governing documents describing rules and functions of a House of Representatives that the senate believes need to be reviewed and revised. During executive session, the senate discussed the need for a committee to be formed to perform such revisions before potentially being approved by SGA.

Forming a House of Representatives was proposed by Student Body President Hunter Barclay and Vice President Hannah Petracca in a previous meeting for senate members to discuss. Petracca spoke of what she believes the purpose of the House would be.

“The idea behind this is that we want to get more student organizations involved in student government,” Petracca said. “There’s a huge disconnect between student organizations and SGA, and this is a good opportunity for them to get involved and be part of student government.”

While there have been concerns about how each section of student government will function, Barclay spoke of how, if the motion is approved, there will be a speaker of the House to communicate between each section of government.

“It’s currently set up that there would be a speaker of the House,” Barclay said. “The speaker of the House would be the liaison between the representatives, and the senate and the executive branch. They would collect the opinions and present them as a liaison to the separate branches.”

Barclay also said part of his reasoning for wanting a House of Representatives to be formed would be to give student organizations a chance to express opinions.

“I know that there are a lot of groups on campus that may not be represented in the senate, but they have valuable and valid opinions,” Barclay said. “So I want to make sure that their opinions have a chance to be presented and expressed.”

After the senators closed executive session and attendees were allowed to reenter the room, senators motioned to postpone the discussion on forming the House to next week’s meeting.

Sarah Ingram can be contacted at [email protected].