Joined by Interim Associate Dean of Campus Life Beth Moriarty, the Student Government Association’s (SGA) latest general assembly meeting included a visit from representatives of the Emerson Los Angeles (ELA) campus and the amendment to a bylaw in SGA’s constitution.
ELA assistant deans Chad Hagan Myers and Mikhail Gershovich joined SGA’s Friday meeting to discuss the ELA program and get feedback from the general assembly.
After a brief presentation, general assembly members were invited to ask questions or raise concerns regarding the program. Georgia Winn, SGA’s chief justice, asked Myers and Gershovich about the level of security on ELA’s campus, citing past safety concerns.
Myers explained that ELA recently received approval to increase campus security, which will provide ELA’s campus with additional police officers and safety resources. He added that seeing armed officers on campus can be triggering for students, inspiring him to start a non-armed officer program for students.
Myers further noted that non-armed officers, “will give presentations on what it means to be safe in the city, teach [students] safety tips and what it means to be walking in an urban city by [themselves].”
Citing the lack of meal plans for ELA students, Oliver Katz, executive treasurer of SGA, asked about ELA’s food pantry.
Myers said that last year, ELA partnered with Student Lunchbox, a nonprofit organization that works with local farmers’ markets to stock Emerson’s student pantry with fresh produce deliveries each week. The partnership received approval to continue stocking ELA’s pantry this summer, which Myers said is “fully stocked.”
Following the conclusion of the ELA presentation, the meeting turned to Winn’s proposed amendment to section 11 of SGA’s constitution. The section, which outlines election procedures, previously had no formal process to determine which candidates won if they all were write-in candidates.
“We did not have a write-in procedure in our constitution,” Winn said. “But the purpose of the bylaws is to amend [the constitution] as we go.”
“If you get more write-in votes than everyone else, you should have [the] office,” Angus Abercrombie, deputy vice treasurer of SGA, said.
Abercrombie and Winn worked together to write SGA’s new constitution, which passed earlier this semester. Following a roll call vote, Winn’s amendment passed unanimously.
