The SGA Senate approved a resolution Thursday to encourage voter registration in the Tuscaloosa area for the Seven-Day Sales Memorandum vote on Feb. 22.
The resolution, authored by Senator Alan Rose, stresses the importance of taking the “first step for students to become politically active.”
The resolution states “students should exercise voting rights in the city where their majority of their time is spent,” approximating that UA students spend “80 percent of their year in the Tuscaloosa area.”
Rose said that although the bill comes around the same time as the Seven-Day Sales Memorandum, getting students registered locally is the larger goal.
“The focus is to get students to register locally,” Rose said. “That’s the biggest thing. You spend a lot of the time at the University when you’re here and it’s important for students to be registered in the place they spend most of their time.”
Rose also said students should take ownership of their place in local politics by letting their voices be heard in issues that can have huge effects on their community.
“Being registered locally is important because, when something like the seven-day alcohol sales vote comes up, you can have a say in something that is going to have a huge effect on the place where you live,” he said. “The resolution certainly encourages student awareness for the seven-day sales vote, but the bigger reason for the bill is to encourage students to register locally.”
Rose also sponsored a resolution during Thursday’s SGA Senate to leave
Bruno Business Library open 24 hours during exam week.
Rose said the resolution gives students more opportunities to avoid overcrowded libraries, which would be an academic boon.
“The resolution is intended to make sure Bruno Library is used to its maximum potential, especially for the business students,” Rose said. “It’s important that during exam week students have the opportunity to utilize Bruno to improve their grades on finals.”
The resolution also addresses the safety hazards caused by walking home from libraries late at night. “If students want to study past 2 a.m., it can be dangerous to walk across campus, especially for female students.”
The language of the resolution further states that Bruno offers “convenient parking” that would “ensure student safety.”
The SGA also proposed a bill Thursday to amend the SGA Constitution in order to limit the eligibility of undergraduate and graduate students seeking the office of executive vice president.
The proposed bill would only allow rising seniors with undergraduate graduation scheduled during the academic year of the conclusion of their term of office or graduate students attending degree-awarding colleges or schools at the University of Alabama or UA law students to be eligible for executive vice president.
Additionally, the bill seeks to make elected executive vice presidents ineligible for serving in another executive office.
If the bill passes with a two-thirds majority in the SGA Senate, the student body will vote on the amendment during the upcoming SGA elections.
