Thursday night’s Senate session featured a welcome reception for one of the University’s own: Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill. A former president of the SGA, Merrill returned to the University to address the Senate on a variety of topics, including his time with the SGA and the duties he now performs as Secretary of State.

“You will find some of the faces you see today [in the the Senate meeting] are some of the faces you will see later on,” Merrill said. He later added, “The lessons that you learn and the experiences you have here are transferable to the future.”

A central theme of Merrill’s speech, besides his time at the University, was his work as Alabama’s Secretary of State. Merrill said during his time as Secretary, improvements have been made with regards to voting and voter registration in Alabama. For the first time, Alabamians can register to vote and find their polling place using the Vote for Alabama app. Additionally, Merrill said iPads have been added to polling places, which in turn has increased efficiency.

Before leaving, Merrill reminded those present that they can call him or his office whenever they need to.

“If you forget everything else tonight,” Merrill said, “Don’t forget this: I work for you.”

After Merrill concluded his remarks, the Senate meeting began with a motion to discharge Resolution 03 from the Academic Affairs Committee. The resolution, authored by Mike Smith, requests that the University release records dealing with the campaign violations by and subsequent rulings dealing with SGA President Jared Hunter.

Smith, a junior economics major, rose to speak in affirmation of his motion to discharge, saying the resolution should not have been sent to the Academic Affairs Committee. Smith added that it should have been considered and passed during last week’s meeting. 

The motion to discharge was met with some opposition. One senator rose to say there was no need to rush on the legislation, and instead Roberts Rules of Order should be followed and the resolution should stay in committee and be given its due process. 

After a voice vote failed to show a clear majority, “division” was called and Senate entered into a roll-call vote. Ultimately, the motion to discharge overwhelmingly failed, and as a result the resolution will remain in committee for further consideration and possible revisions.

After the meeting, Smith said he finds it “ridiculous” that the resolution is remaining in the Academic Affairs Committee.

“There is no reason that a resolution asking for transparency within the SGA should be in the Academic Affairs Committee and the fact that we didn’t discharge it tonight further shows that there are people within SGA who want to keep this information private and hidden from the student body,” he said.

Smith introduced the resolution during the previous Senate meeting. It was also during that meeting that SGA President Hunter gave a statement, detailing the 45 hours of community service and research hours he has been given by the University’s Office of Student Conduct as a result of their investigation. 

In addition Smith emphasized the urgency with which the resolution needs to be passed.

“SGA Senate can bring this thing out of committee if the urgency dictates it,” he said. “This is a matter of campus importance that deserved to be addressed with last week and we’re keeping on delaying it, and I’m worried that if we do not act with urgency and we do not take it out of committee it’s going to die there throughout the rest of the semester.”

Order of Events:

1. Remarks by Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill

2. Motion to discharge Resolution 03 introduced, failed to pass.

3. Act 06, which would place 50% of SGA scholarship funds into the endowment corpus and the other 50% towards immediate scholarship needs, introduced and sent to the finance committee.

4. Act 07 to ratify the SGA operating budget for fiscal year 2018 introduced, passed.