Marshall University’s Student Government Association joined together for its final meeting of the fall semester Tuesday, Dec. 4 to discuss election rules and budgetary guidelines for the rest of the year.

The budget was initially made public to the student legislators in mid-September, but in the bustle of September legislative business, it was neglected and was not put on the agenda.

“Where a lot of departmental funding got cut across the university due to state funding allocation, we did lose some funding as a result,” Student Body President Hunter Barclay said. “We lost $14,000 in funding from last year, but we were able to increase our funding for student organizations.”

While there were some concerns involving how large the Barclay cabinet is and how much funding was allotted to the executive branch, both the Barclay administration and student advisers were able to put those concerns to rest.

“This is really the simplest budget I’ve seen in quite a while for student government,” Matt James, assistant dean of students for involvement, said. “The funding for executives is less than 30 percent of the entire budget, you guys have really worked hard to prioritize funding for organizations. I don’t see a reason to vote against the budget.”

The budget garnered a lot of conversation regarding what had been done in the past semester and how that aligns or does not align with the funds allocated.

Senator Jeremiah Parlock asked if the budget had accounted for the funding for the recently announced Herd Haven and the catering for the first House of Representatives meeting.

Cedric Gathings, vice president of student affairs, said the funding for the House of Representatives activities came from student affairs and did not have to be accounted for within the proposed budget.

The budget was approved by the senate, and then the senate proposed election rules revisions for the next election season in 2019. Changes included the inclusion of a new five percent required margin of victory for the winning campaign, the barring of campaigning in the Recreation Center and the requirement of a 3.25 GPA for students to run for president and vice president.

“We’re not approving these updated election rules permanently yet,” Senate President Pro-Tempore Noelle Soares said. “We are voting on this document to go to Student Affairs for them to approve and modify it, and then it’ll come back to us next semester for us to vote on definitively.”

The additions to election rules were approved by the senate, and the document will return to the floor before elections in March this next semester.

“With the New Year approaching after finals, take this time as student lawmakers and reflect on what you’ve done and what you can do to improve this organization,” Michelle Barbour, student advocate and success specialist, said. “Think about how you can better communicate with one another, work better with one another, and express your feelings in a professional way.”

Matt James said he agreed with these ideas.

“We can get a lot done if you guys work together and make your concerns vocal, let’s make this next semester a good one,” James said.

Hannah Graham can be contacted at [email protected].