Another school year has come and gone. In that year, the University’s Student Government Association was busy enacting legislation, policies, a governing. In honor of the year’s end, here are 10 key policies and actions ranked in the order in which they occurred that were either passed or discussed from August 2016 until now.

10. SGA President Lillian Roth’s Constitutional Convention

One of the most discussed SGA items of the past year came relatively early in the school year. The convention appeared first on the Sep. 8 Senate docket as resolution 10. Citing an “inefficient and redundant system of student-governance,” the resolution called the SGA Constitution to be rewritten. The resolution passed the house and was the first legislative item discussed by the First year Council. After passing the First Year Council, the matter was then placed on the Homecoming ballot on Sep. 28. The amendment needed a 9/13 majority, or roughly 69 percent of the vote to pass. In the end, the amendment was voted down with 40.08 percent of voters voting for it and 59.92 percent voting against it.

9. The McCaskey-Cervino Rules and Regulations Bill

One of the lengthiest pieces of SGA legislation first appeared on the Oct. 6 Senate docket. The authors, then Speaker of the Senate Lance McCaskey and then Senate Chief of Staff Michael Cervino, said in the bill that the SGA Code of Laws is meant to function as a structural document. Using this argument, the bill removed portions of the Code of Laws dealing with Senate procedures and placed them in a separate document known as the Senate Rules and Regulations. Senate passed the bill.

8. Resolution 24-2016

This resolution “condemning racism and intolerance at the University of Alabama,” according to its title, was introduced after derogatory and racially specific remarks were made in the Alabama Student Ticket Exchange. The resolution resolves that the Senate “stands against any form of racism and intolerance on campus and strongly condemns any form of threats of violence.” The resolution was passed.

7. The “Champions Don’t Hate” campaign

This campaign also began in wake of the posts in the Alabama Student Ticket Exchange. This social media campaign, launched by SGA President Lillian Roth, aimed to encourage students to stop posting demeaning or hateful remarks on social media. “Don’t share it, don’t spread it, don’t support it,” was the campaigns motto during “Champions Don’t Hate Week.” Ultimately, the SGA hosted a forum to discuss negativity on social media and the Senate passed a resolution supporting the campaign.

6. Resolution 27

Authored by then Senate Chief of Staff Michael Cervino, this resolution to “strengthen campus cybersecurity,” according to the bill’s title, mainly partnered the SGA Senate with the Office of Information Technologies to assist in the implementation of DUO. DUO is a program that provides two- factor authentication for accessing MyBama. The program was implemented by the OIT with the goal of reducing or eliminating of student accounts being compromised by cyber attacks. The resolution passed and DUO has since been implemented campus wide and can be accessed on MyBama.

5. Bill 9-2016

Sen. Robert Pendley authored the bill, which would have created an Ethics and Oversight Committee. The Committee would have been responsible for reviewing all projects that cost more than $700, in addition to investigating complaints against SGA members. In the end, the bill did not pass.

4. A bill to codify Student Organizational Seating (SOS)

This bill to place block seating in the SGA Code of Laws was possibly the most debated topic in the SGA Senate this past year. The bill first appeared on the Feb. 2 Senate docket alongside a constitutional amendment to remove block seating from the SGA Code of Laws. The bill and constitutional amendment were passed at a later date. The constitutional amendment was placed on the March 7 elections ballot, and the bill was sent to SGA President Roth. On March 23, Roth vetoed the bill, and in a press release detailed some changes that needed to be made to the bill. One of the changes included prohibiting members of The Machine from being a part of the SOS process. After writing an executive order on the matter, Roth called for a special session of the Senate to present a legislative version of the order. However, few Senators attended the March 29 special session and as a result the meeting was adjourned due to lack of quorum. After being inaugurated, and writing an executive order to rescind Roth’s executive order on the matter, SGA President Jared Hunter called a special session of the Senate to hear a similar version of the bill to codify block seating. The bill was discussed during the special session, sent to the Rules Committee and passed at the following Senate meeting.

3. Vice President for Academic Affairs Ross D’Entremont’s academic forgiveness policy

Although it has yet to be implemented, Ross D’Entremont’s has begun working on his academic forgiveness policy. The policy would essentially allow a student to repeat a course they failed and, provided they pass, replace the failing grade. Upon passing, the failing grade would be removed from the students GPA.

2. The Elections Board’s call for Machine information

The Machine was a hot topic of discussion during the 2017-2018 SGA Elections. In fact, the topic became so prevalent when discussing the election that the SGA Elections Board issued a summons for information regarding the group. The Board received such a large amount of information that the matter was sent to the Office of Student Conduct, where it currently remains.

1. Jared Hunter’s election as SGA president

It has been said before and it will now be said again: Hunter’s election was nothing but historic. Hunter became the first candidate to publicly announce his Machine backing before an election. Hunter had to overcome a “blackout” period that was imposed on his campaign by the Elections Board. He was also challenged by Gene Fulmer and Lillian Roth, who also made history when members of her administration revealed that she was the previous Machine candidate and would run again with or without the group’s backing. Ultimately, Hunter received 54 percent of the vote with Fulmer receiving 29 percent and Roth acquiring 16 percent.