1

2 SMU STUDENT SENATE

3
4Bill Number: S-11-04-19 Final Vote:
5
6Author: Harvey Luna, Katie Perkins, et al Student Senate Secretary: Katie Perkins
7
8Dean of Student Life: Dr. Lisa Webb Student Senate Chair: Joe Gassbeck
9
10
11 A RESOLUTION ADDING A GENDER IDENTITY AND SEXUAL
12 ORIENTATION SEAT TO THE STUDENT SENATE
13
14WHEREAS under the Student Body Constitution and
15 Student Senate By-Laws there exist no Student
16 Senate seat designed specifically to represent
17 students who are members of the Lesbian,
18 Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer
19 ("LGBTQ") community on the SMU campus, and
20
21NOTING that the LGBTQ community has unique needs
22 and interests, including but not limited to
23 safety, health and housing concerns, and
24 protection from various forms of discrimination,
25 that require independent representation, and
26
27FURTHER NOTING that the Student Senate preamble states that it
28 is the duty of the Student Senate to assist in
29 providing communication, protection of student
30 rights and intellectual growth, among other
31 things, for all students, and
32
33RECOGNIZING that the LGBTQ community is an integral and
34 vibrant part of the Southern Methodist
35 University community as a whole that deserves
36 continued recognition and consistent
37 representation as such,
38
39BE IT THEREFORE that the following changes be made to the Student Body
40RESOLVED Constitution:
41
42ARTICLE II
43THE STUDENT SENATE
44
45Section 3. Membership
46
47 3. Special Interest Senators
48 a) For the purpose of this document, the International Senator shall
49 be considered an Ethnic Minority Senator. Furthermore, the
50 Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Senator shall also
51 constitute as a special interest senator.
 52 b) The Ethnic Minority Senators must represent an ethnic group as
53 recognized by the Office of the Registrar. There will be only
54 one Special Interest Senator Seat per ethnic group. Candidates
55 must be a member of their representative constituency as
56 verified by the Office of the Registrar. Each Ethnic Minority
57 Senator shall have a vote.
58 1. When the population of an unrepresented ethnic
59 group reaches or exceeds 150, that group may
60 petition the Student Senate for a Special Interest
61 Senator seat. For a petition to be considered, it
62 must contain signatures from at least 1/3 of the
63 students in the ethnic group. The petition must be
64 approved by a 2/3 vote of the Student Senate for the
65 seat to be established.
66 2. Once an Ethnic Minority Senator seat has been
67 established, it will remain until that Senator’s ethnic
68 group makes up at least 15 percent of the total
69 student body for at least two consecutive years. It
70 will then be eliminated at the end of the term.
71 c) The Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Senator must
72 represent the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and
73 Queer SMU community. There will be only one Gender
74 Identity and Sexual Orientation Senator. Candidates and
75 voters must self-identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
76 Transgender, or Queer as officially verified by the
77 University Registrar to vote or run for this seat. The
78 Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Senator shall have
79 a vote.
80 1. For the purposes of this document, the Gender
81 Identity and Sexual Orientation Senator shall
82 hereby be referred to as the G.I.S.O. Senator.
83 2. Once the G.I.S.O. Senator seat has been
84 established, it will remain until that Senator’s
85 constituency makes up at least 15 percent of the
86 total student body for at least two consecutive
87 years. It will then be eliminated at the end of the
88 term.
89 i. If there are no means to
90 determine the 15% clause, the Student
91 Senate shall put the G.I.S.O. seat up for a
92 vote every 2 years to either be deactivated
93 (for 1 year) or extended for another 2
94 years. If Student Senate votes to
95 deactivate the G.I.S.O. seat, Senate, after
96 1 year of deactivation, may still vote on
97 reactivating the seat (extending it for
98 another 2 years), or permanently
99 eliminating it. Regardless of the vote to
100 eliminate, deactivate, or extend the
101 G.I.S.O. seat, the senator in that seat shall
102 be allowed to finish their term. If Senate
103 does not bring up the vote to extend,
104 deactivate, or eliminate the G.I.S.O. seat
105 within the Senate’s yearly session that the
106 vote is expected to come up, the G.I.S.O.
107 seat shall automatically be reactivated
108 and/or extended for another 2 years.
109
110 7. The Comptroller, who shall maintain all monies of the Students'
111 Association and shall have no vote;
112 8. The Students' Association Web Designer, who shall maintain the
113 website of the Students' Association and shall have no vote.
114 9. All committee members who shall have no vote.
115
116Section 4.
117 The SMU Student Senate shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national
118 origin, sex, gender, veteran status, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender
119 identity, and gender expression. The Office of Institutional Access and Equity has
120 been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policy.
121
122ARTICLE IV
123STUDENT BODY ELECTIONS
124
125Section 2. Other Senators
126 All other Senators shall:
127 1. Be elected only by the currently enrolled full-time and part-time
128 students of their respective schools, ethnic groups(,as
129 defined by the University Registrar), or by the Lesbian,
130 Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer SMU students.
131 A student may only run for one senator seat per election.
132
133
134BE IT FURTHER that the following changes be made to the Student
135 Senate
136RESOLVED Senate By-Laws:
137
138ARTICLE II
139MEMBERSHIP
140
141Section 2. Special Interest Senators
142
143 1. The following Ethnic Minority Senators will be elected according to
144 the guidelines in Article II, Section 3, of the Constitution:
145 a. Asian-American Senator;
146 b. African-American Senator;
147 c. Hispanic-American Senator;
148 d. International Senator
149 2. The Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Senator will be
150 elected according to the guidelines in Article II, Section3, of the
151 Constitution.
152
153
154BE IT FURTHER that the following changes be made to the Student
155 Senate
156RESOLVED Election Code:
157
158Section III: Eligibility for Candidacy
159
1603.4 In addition there will be one student for each of the following special-interest
161 senator positions:
162 • African-American Senator
163 • Asian-American Senator
164 • Hispanic-American Senator
165 • International Senator
166 • Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Senator
167
168
169
170Respectfully Submitted,
171
172Primary Author:
173Harvey Luna
174Dedman I Senator
175
176Contributing Authors:
177
178Katie Perkins
179Student Body Secretary
180
181Soniyyah Blue
182Perkins Senator
183
184Rachel Fox
185Dedman II Senator
186
187