Spring Break
Student organization approvals on hold
SGA Meeting
Emily Iorg
Issue date: 10/24/05 Section: News
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Approval of new student organizations is on hold, Student Life Office Director Zauyah Waite announced at last Wednesday's Student Government Association (SGA) Senate meeting.
Waite said after contacting University of Missouri (UM) legal counsel regarding a specific student organization, Students Against Conservative America and the Military, all vice chancellors received a letter from Kandis Smith, senior vice president for Academic Affairs at UM-Columbia.
"We recently discovered that, due to an administrative oversight, current UM campus policies regarding the approval of student organizations are not in compliance with the Board of Curators approved Collected Rules and Regulations," Smith stated in the letter.
The Collected Rules were passed in 2001.
While still uncertain what this means for current student organizations, Waite said, "Once legal counsel makes a decision, we will go back retroactively and look at those [organizations] approved since May 2001."
Senators expressed concern that new groups requesting funds, or even an organization's name change or constitution change for clarification, must wait.
SGA Executive Vice President Soyfa Galich is chair of the Constitution Committee, which reviews constitutions of UMKC student organizations.
"For one reason or another, the Student Life Office did not receive notification of these changes [to the UM Collected Rules and Regulations]. For now everything is at a standstill," Galich said.
She outlined the role of the committee in light of this.
"Right now there are two choices: go to chancellor for approval or [Lehmkuhle] can delegate them to somebody else to approve. The Committee is still together; they're on call. If we need to meet they will be available to meet," Galich said.
She emphasized the benefits of assessing the student organizations to ensure equity.
"The reason that this is happening is to make sure there is fair and accurate representation of student organizations and to make sure no one is being discriminated against and no personal biases play a role in who can and can't get approved for a student organization, said Galich. "This is important to address so students feel comfortable and welcome to form new groups and organizations."
Waite said after contacting University of Missouri (UM) legal counsel regarding a specific student organization, Students Against Conservative America and the Military, all vice chancellors received a letter from Kandis Smith, senior vice president for Academic Affairs at UM-Columbia.
"We recently discovered that, due to an administrative oversight, current UM campus policies regarding the approval of student organizations are not in compliance with the Board of Curators approved Collected Rules and Regulations," Smith stated in the letter.
The Collected Rules were passed in 2001.
While still uncertain what this means for current student organizations, Waite said, "Once legal counsel makes a decision, we will go back retroactively and look at those [organizations] approved since May 2001."
Senators expressed concern that new groups requesting funds, or even an organization's name change or constitution change for clarification, must wait.
SGA Executive Vice President Soyfa Galich is chair of the Constitution Committee, which reviews constitutions of UMKC student organizations.
"For one reason or another, the Student Life Office did not receive notification of these changes [to the UM Collected Rules and Regulations]. For now everything is at a standstill," Galich said.
She outlined the role of the committee in light of this.
"Right now there are two choices: go to chancellor for approval or [Lehmkuhle] can delegate them to somebody else to approve. The Committee is still together; they're on call. If we need to meet they will be available to meet," Galich said.
She emphasized the benefits of assessing the student organizations to ensure equity.
"The reason that this is happening is to make sure there is fair and accurate representation of student organizations and to make sure no one is being discriminated against and no personal biases play a role in who can and can't get approved for a student organization, said Galich. "This is important to address so students feel comfortable and welcome to form new groups and organizations."
