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Dispute between SGA and administration settled

The dispute between the Student Government Association and University administration has been settled after a meeting last night, according to SGA officials.It marks the end of a stall in the approval of amendments to the SGA Constitution, as the SGA accused Dr. Stacey Duhon, acting vice president of Student Affairs, of holding up legislation.

During the meeting, it was brought to the attention of GSU President Horace Judson that the SGA did not think Duhon was allowing them to do what they wanted to do.

“(Dr. Judson) didn’t think that was true because Dr. Duhon was always defending us,” said Chris Harmon, SGA President.

A solution was reached for the issue concerning Duhon.

“When we come up with things we want to do to present to Dr. Duhon, and if she has a different idea, we’ll go back for a day or two to rethink it,” he explained. “If we decide we want to keep it our way, we’ll take it back to her. If she still doesn’t agree, we can take it to Dr. Judson, and he’ll make the final decision.”

One of the biggest issues between the dispute was the SGA Constitution.

“We came to the understanding that the SGA Constitution needs to clarify a lot of things between the SGA and University,” said Steven Jackson, SGA vice president.

Jackson stated that President Horace Judson did say that the administration did not have the right to write the Constitution. It is, however, back to the drawing board with the Constitution.

“The problem is that the Constitution is poorly written,” said Harmon. “We’ll rewrite the Constitution in a more effective way during SGA Week.”

SGA Week will be held March 15 – March 20.

Jackson said that under the Constution resolution, the SGA Constitution will be reworked by a committee made up of SGA members and other students, administration and a third party not affiliated with the university or SGA.

In the end, the dispute ended in a favorable fashion.

“Everybody is pleased with the outcome,” he said. “It wasn’t a victory thing. We did establish a protocol; we would consult with (Judson) before we took it to the (University of Louisiana) System.”

With the dispute over, it puts the SGA back on track to conduct business again. The SGA will follow the current Constitution until a new one is negotiated and approved.

“It all came down to interpretation and how do we interpret what (the Constitution) is saying,” he said.