A student senate resolution to create a judicial branch in the Student Government Association will now appear on the ballot during next week’s elections, after it was approved during a student senate meeting Tuesday in the Memorial Student Center. 

Members of the student body will determine whether or not Senate Resolution 76.19 is passed when they vote during the March 19 and 20 election, said Parliamentarian Jo Tremmel, leader of the student senate’s Judiciary Committee. 

If the resolution is passed, a student body judicial branch consisting of a five-member Supreme Court will be created, Tremmel said. Members of the Supreme Court will be nominated by the newly-elected student body president and approved by the student senate for a one-year appointment, she said. 

Undergraduate students with a cumulative GPA of 2.75 and graduate students with a cumulative GPA of 3.00 would be eligible for nomination to the student body Supreme Court if they also met one of the following requirements: having at least one prior year of SGA experience; having completed at least 40 undergraduate credit hours; or having completed at least 12 graduate credit hours. 

If the student body judicial branch is created, senators and members of the executive branch will be able to bring constitutional concerns to the judicial Supreme Court and will also be able to ask if members of student government are doing what is fair and allowed, said Student Body Vice President Hannah Petracca, leader of the student senate. 

Currently, the concerns of SGA members are addressed to Marshall University’s director of student conduct, Petracca said. With the creation of a student body judicial branch and Supreme Court, students would be able to have an input in the process, she said. 

“To sum it up, ultimately we wanted to get more students involved in student government, we wanted there to be another way for more students to be involved, we wanted student input in deciding disagreements between the branches that currently exist,” Petracca said.

The idea to create a judicial branch for SGA originated in the executive branch with Petracca and Student Body President Hunter Barclay, and the original sponsor of the resolution was Sen. Jeremiah Parlock, Petracca said. 

Jesten Richardson can be contacted at [email protected].