By Jaime Hoerbelt

The Student Government Association passed the majority of a proposal on Tuesday to further define sections of the constitution dealing with the Student Business Organization Board (SBOB), the Ethics and Conduct chair and general attendance for senators.

The Ethics and Conduct proposal involved three categories of change. The legislation dealt with many issues, and it was broken down and voted on piece by piece.

First, the proposal established a representative for the SBOB in SGA who will serve as the voting member. Second, the legislation amended many different sections in an attempt to further define the roles of the Ethics and Conduct chair. Third, in relation to defining the Ethics and Conduct chair, the proposal made many adjustments to absence policies.

The amendments correspond to changes made in the policy series last year by SGA Vice President Kate Legnetti, then the Ethics and Conduct chair. Late arrivals, absence notice and the removal of absences were three topics that were highly debated.

The proposal was intended to give senators arriving 15 minutes late to senate meetings a half absence. Some members objected to this because it did not specify what was to happen during committee meetings. This section passed.

The legislation defined that senators must notify the Ethics and Conduct chair 24 hours in advance to receive an excused absence from a senate meeting. This section was then amended by Peter DiSilvio to read “within 24 hours” instead of “24 hours in advance.” This section failed.

The proposal also offered the chance for senators to get one free absence halfway through the semester by attending a SGA co-sponsored event that the senator was not already attending for another club. This section passed.

The author of this proposal, Ashley Kowal, the current Ethics and Conduct chair, proposed the legislation. “Basically, I really wanted to add the SBOB rep, because I feel like they’re going to be a huge umbrella organization,” Kowal said. “They should have a representative on senate. And Ethics and Conducts, that position, should be a little bit more defined in the constitution. And I’m glad that everything passed that passed and that what failed, failed.”

The new incentive for relieving senator’s absences is designed to boost attendance at events. “I think that it’s really important for senators to have the initiative to go to sponsored events they wouldn’t have gone to anyway, because it’s just as important as senate meetings,” Kowal said.

Kowal said that the proposal did not make the absence policy any stricter or more lenient. “I think [the proposal] defined it and made [the policy series] more fluid with the constitution.”