Preamble

The SwVCC Student Government Association is the central governance for the student body. It is the principal advocate for the interests of the student body as a whole to the SwVCC administration and faculty and ensures the effective student participation in the governance system. The Senate is a central forum for common dialogue within the student community and for the development of legislation to actualize common goals. The Senate is responsible for ensuring the coordination of all student government organizations. The Senate encourages and supports student organizations, initiatives, and activities. 

Article I - Name

The name of the herein-established organization shall be the Student Government Association of Southwest Virginia Community College. It shall henceforth be referred to as the SGA.

Article II – Purpose

The SGA exists to perform the following functions in an unbiased manner:

• To promote the knowledge of and respect for a free and democratic society
• To represent the students of Southwest Virginia Community College in community service and involvement
• To act as a liaison between the students and administration, faculty and staff of SwVCC
• To provide a voice for student issues and concerns
• To offer practical services to the student body
• To promote student activities and student involvement

Article III – Membership

Section 1.              The SGA shall be comprised of fifteen (15) members

Section 2.             All students are eligible to become members of the SGA at SwVCC as long as they meet all requirements set forth by this Constitution.         

Section 3.              All persons wanting to become members of SGA must be enrolled as a full-time student and must continuously be enrolled as a full-time student during their terms of service as a SGA Senator at SwVCC.

Section 4.              The student must have and maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 during their term as a SGA member.

Section 5.              The student must have no academic or disciplinary probation prior to running for SGA and must not become on academic or disciplinary probation while they serve as a member of SGA.

Section 6.              Each members term in SGA will be throughout the academic school year, consisting of a Fall and Spring Semester.

Section 7.              It will be left up to the advisor(s) of this SGA to determine the eligibility of  prospective and current SGA in the Fall and of all elected SGA members. All members of this SGA shall be immediately removed if the advisor(s) determines any student ineligible.

Article IV - Elections

Section 1.              There shall be an election held at the beginning of the Fall Semester to determine the SGA Senators for the upcoming school year. An election is only to be held if there are more than fifteen candidates.  

Section 2.             The election shall be held on the Tuesday and Wednesday after Labor Day.

Section 3.              Those candidates running for office in the Fall Semester must submit a completed Candidates Form stating qualifications, according to the Constitution, to the student body and must be certified eligible by the SGA advisor(s).

Section 4.              Two weeks before any election is to be held, the office of the Vice President of Student Development Services must publicize that candidate application forms for Student Government offices are available. The completed candidate application forms are to be turned into the Dean of Student Development Services who will check the qualifications and forward them to the Judicial Board to prepare the ballot.

                                A sealed ballot box shall be made available in a convenient supervised location. The box is to be locked in the Student Development Services Office after the polls are closed.

                                The members of the Judicial Board and/or committee appointed by the Judicial Board shall maintain the polls. The polls shall remain open for two consecutive days from 8:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. and from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Student Government will post the election days and times in a prominent place in each building.     

Article V – Legislative Branch

Section 1.              Each member of SGA shall be required to sign a contract of the responsibilities of each member (see Appendix A).

Section 2.             The Student Senate shall have the right to establish rules of operations not otherwise covered in this Constitution.     

Section 3.             Attendance is mandatory for all student government sponsored events deemed necessary by the Senate.

Section 4.             The Student Senate shall recommend to the Student Activities Committee the chartering of all student organizations.

Section 5.             The Student Senate shall appoint students to vacancies that may occur in the Senate.

                               No more than five people may be considered to fill each vacancy. Each candidate must complete an application and submit it to an SGA advisor within the time that is deemed necessary by the remaining Senate. The Senate will then narrow down the field from five applicants to three based on the merits and qualifications presented on the application form and submitted by the applicant.

                               The final three applicants shall then appear at a SGA meeting for a personal interview with the Senate. Questions will be asked to each applicant regarding the goals and objectives set forth by the SGA. After the Senate interviews the applicants individually, each applicant is then given no more than two minutes to speak freely to the Senate and explain why they are the best candidate. After each candidate has been given time to speak, the candidates shall then be asked to leave while the Senate holds a closed vote to fill the vacancy and the person(s) with a plurality of the votes will then be appointed to the Student Senate. 

Article VI – Executive Branch

Section 1.              Election Process                 

                                The Senate shall nominate members to the offices of President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Historian.

                                All second year SGA Senators shall have the first priority to run for the office of President if they are nominated. If no returning SGA Senator wishes to be President, then it will be offered by nominations to all Sophomores next. If no returning member or Sophomore wishes to hold the office, then nominations can begin to all Freshmen or first year SGA Senators.

                                All members of the Senate will vote on the nominees and the candidate who receives the most votes will be elected to office.

                                If there are more than two candidates running for the same positions and no majority was reached on the first vote, then a run-off vote will be taken by the Senate to decide the winner between the two leading candidates.

                                The duties of the President shall be to:

• Take an oath of office at the beginning of the first official meeting. The oath shall be:  

“I, state your name, do solemnly swear and affirm to carry out my duties as President, as stated in the Southwest Virginia Community College Student Government Association Constitution and Contract and will uphold this constitution and its by-laws to the best of my abilities.” The President shall be sworn in by an active advisor.

• Be the official spokesperson for the SGA. The President shall act as the primary liaison between the student body and the administration, faculty, and staff of the college.
• Take responsibility to see that the Executive Board properly represents the wishes and concerns of the student body and that the SGA operates in accordance with this Constitution and the college policies.
• Carry out all duties and responsibilities assigned in this Constitution; the President has all Executive power not restricted by this Constitution or denied to him/her by college policies.
• Call and preside over all regular and special meetings of the Executive Board and the SGA.
• Establish committees that are deemed necessary by the Senate. The President will ask for volunteers first. If there are too many people volunteering for one committee and not enough volunteers on another committee, the President then has the ability to assign members to a certain committee to even it all out. The President shall also have the ability to appoint all chairpersons to these committees.
• Delegate duties and responsibilities within the purposes of the SGA.
• Participate in the student activity college-wide budget process and in the SGA budget process.

                                The duties of the Vice President shall be to:

• Assist the President in the performance of his/her duties and to carry out all duties assigned to him/her by the President.
• Coordinate all aspects of new student clubs and organization recognition by the SGA. The Vice President shall serve as the SGA liaison to the Southwest Virginia Community College clubs and organizations by acting as chair of the Inter-Club Council (ICC).
• Assume presidential duties upon the President’s absence.

                                The duties of the Secretary shall be to:

• Assist the President in the performance of his/her duties.
• Record, maintain, and distribute all minutes and acts of the SGA during all meetings.
• Maintain an accurate and official record of all SGA activities including communications, actions, meeting minutes, and correspondence.
• Take attendance at all meetings and maintain attendance records.

                                The duties of the Treasurer shall be to:

• Assist the President in the performance of his/her duties.
• Keep an accurate record of all SGA funds and expenditures and make reports available during all meetings.
• Submit all requests for requisitions and seek advisor approval to expend SGA funds.
• Oversee any and all SGA fundraising activities.
• Prepare the annual SGA budget, recommended by the Executive Board for submission to and approval by the Student Development Center.

                                The duties of the Historian shall be to:

• Maintain an accurate history of all SGA business, activities and membership rosters for each year of the organization’s existence.
• Be responsible for the creation and maintenance of the SGA scrapbooks (portfolios).

                                The duties of the Advisor(s) shall be to:

• Serve as an ex-officio member of the SGA. The Advisor shall work with the Treasurer to maintain an accurate accounting of the SGA budget and authorize all expenditures drawn from the college budget.
• Oversee the activities of the SGA and to guide and educate the SGA members as to their duties and responsibilities. The members of the Executive should respect the SGA Advisor and strive to work in harmony with him/her.
• Responsible for executing a grade check on all candidates for student government positions. He/she will advise the General Elections Committee of the results.
• Responsible for executing a grade check on all appointed and elected members of Student Government. He/she will advise the Student Government of the results.
• Have the authority to remove members of the SGA who do not qualify before or during their term of office.

Section 3.              The President shall serve no more than three consecutive semesters, not including summer. A President may only serve three consecutive semesters if they succeed the current President during the Spring Semester or during the last month of the Fall Semester. Once elected the normal term of office for President may be one academic school year. Any one may seek to hold office more than twice except the President. The President shall not be allowed to run for President again after serving his/her term of office and may not run for Vice President either, but may run for any of the other offices.

Section 4.              If a vacancy occurs in any office for any reason, succession will succeed upwards. If no one decides to succeed up to office, then the election process first established by this Constitution will take affect.

Article VII - Committees

Section 1.              There shall be three standing committees established from year to year. There will be a lounge committee, a student discount card committee, and an advertising committee.

• Lounge Committee- Responsible for maintaining the upkeep and further development of the SwVCC student lounge. Shall be in charge of establishing all lounge rules. All monetary decisions must be approved by the full Senate with a plurality vote.

• Student Discount Card Committee- Responsible for continuous contact with local businesses, maintaining organized and updated records of all businesses, make all publications of the discount card, including those to students and businesses.

• Advertising Committee- Responsible for producing all public relations regarding all SGA activities and committees. Oversee the distribution of flyers, signs if necessary, publicizing all events using all SwVCC resources.

Section 2.              The President can appoint new standing committees that is deemed necessary by a majority vote of the full Senate body.

Section 3.              The President as the ability to establish any temporary committee that he/she deems necessary to better accomplish the goals and objectives set forth by the Senate.

Section 4.              The President shall not serve on any committee, but may sit in on any meeting and oversee the committee operations. The President has the ability to review and reassign all committee members as seen fit.

Section 5.              The President will sit in on the first committee meeting. At that time, he/she will ask for members who wish to volunteer for the chairperson of that committee to personally contact him/her about becoming the chairperson. At that time, the President will appoint a chair.

Article VIII – Impeachment and Removal

Section 1.              All members of Student Government are bound by the SGA Constitution and Contract.

Section 2.              All members are subject to impeachment and/or removal by the process established by this Constitution.

Section 3.              A removal petition must be written and submitted to an advisor. A removal petition must include the following: the name of the person subject to removal from his/her office, a clear statement of the offense, signatures of one-third of the members with Student Identification numbers in support of the petition, and an evaluation sheet of the performance of the member in question.

                                Once the petition has been submitted, the advisor must then sit down with that member and explain the charges brought forth. The member shall have two weeks after notification to comply with the grievances stated in the petition. If the member in question does not comply, then there will be a proxy vote to proceed with impeachment proceedings and a majority vote must be met and it if it met, then the impeachment and/or removal process continues.

                                The accused member will then have no more than three minutes to explain how they have complied with the charges and why they should not be impeached or removed. The accused will then be asked to leave the room and the Senate body will then have no more than five minutes to deliberate and discuss whether the member in question should be removed or impeached.

                                After five minutes of discussions, the Senate will then cast their vote and the member will be impeached or removed by a two-thirds vote of the Senate. The Vice President is allowed to vote in the impeachment and removal process as long as he/she is not the member in question.

Article IX – Meeting Process

Section 1.              The Senate automatically shall be required to meet once a week, except during the week of final examinations. The Senate may call other sessions if the need is established by its members. Written notice of time and place of each meeting shall be posted at least twenty-four (24) hours before the time of the meeting in the Student Government Office.

Section 2.              The President is responsible for calling and scheduling all meetings in accordance with the rules of this Constitution and with the approval of the Senate. He/she may call a special meeting when it is deemed necessary.

                                All SGA Board meetings shall be conducted in accordance with this Constitution. Robert’s Rule of Order shall govern only those instances not stipulated or established in this Constitution.

Section 3.              A quorum of eight (8) senators shall be required for an official meeting to be held. No senate business may be conducted without a quorum present.

Section 4.              Each meeting will begin with the Secretary reading the minutes aloud of the previous meeting followed by the Treasurer giving an update of the budget by announcing all expenditures and changes in the budget from the previous meeting. All minutes must be motioned to approval, followed by a second, and voted in by a majority vote of the members present.

                                After the minutes are approved, the floor is then given to the President to conduct and try to conclude Old Business from previous meetings. Once Old Business is completed, the floor is then open to discussion on New Business. After New Business is discussed, it must then be motioned to adjourn the meeting, followed by a second, and approved by a majority vote of the Senate body.

                                All decisions shall be a plurality vote of those Senate members present and voting unless otherwise required.

                                All members of the Senate are eligible to vote except for the Vice President. The Vice President is only allowed to vote if the Senate is evenly divided and a vote is needed to break the tie or unless otherwise stated in this Constitution.

                                All SGA meetings are mandatory; it is the responsibility of all SGA Senators members to attend. Exceptions can only be made in extreme circumstances and with the approval of the Executive Board and the Advisor.

                                If an SGA Senate member is unable to attend a meeting, it is his/her responsibility to obtain the minutes of the meeting and any other related materials.
A Board member of the SGA is permitted a total of three (3) absences during his/her regular required term of office.     

Article X - Amendments

Section 1.              The Student Senate, when it is deemed necessary by a two-thirds vote, shall propose amendment to the Constitution. When an amendment is proposed, it shall be printed and made available to the Student Senate one week before a vote is to be cast.

                                The Student Senate is only allowed to propose one or two amendments at a time. If the Senate proposes more than two amendments to the Constitution, then it must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Senate body. If it receives the necessary amount of votes, it must then be printed and made available to the students of Southwest Virginia Community College two weeks before a vote can be made. If a plurality of the students vote to amend the Constitution, then those amendments passed will be effective immediately.

Section 2.              The Student Senate shall have the power to propose and pass amendments to the Constitution which deal with the effectiveness and efficiency of the Student Government Association.