Drawing the line: SGA proposes bills for campus safety and parking, exposes underlying problems
Amanda Earp - Contributing Writer
Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: Campus News
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The first piece of legislation was Senate Resolution F09-01 written by Secretary A. Rene' Mckelvey and University Affairs Chief Mariel Kanene. It was sponsored by President Ryan Bridges. F09-01 pertains to the crime on campus. It states that even though SHSU is ranked among the top 10 safest institutes in the United States, that it could always be safer. Mckelvey and Kanene propose that the Dean of Students and the University Police re-evaluate all current rules in place to ensure safety and that communication is increased between SHSU and Huntsville. It also proposes that if a student, full or part time, is involved in criminal activity in Huntsville that it be reported to the University Police Department and the Dean of Students. The final resolution is that when a student is involved in three incidents with legal authorities, regardless of how serious, that their enrollment is re-evaluated by the Dean of Services.
At the meeting there was debate about the bill and the resolutions proposed. One of the problems mentioned with the bill was in reference to the part about being re-evaluated after three incidents. Chief of Staff Kendall Scudder made the point that if this is in place "regardless of seriousness" then that would apply to something minor like three traffic violations. It was also mentioned by Senator Marcelo Pendleton that the "three strikes law" in California did not work and that this bill would pose as an ethical violation to the United States Constitution.
In response, Mckelvey said, "The bill does not say that after three strikes you're out, it says that you will go in front of someone to re-evaluate whether you should be enrolled here. I am not trying to kick anyone out, but I want us to be safe."
Mckelvey further mentioned that she was not telling the administration what they had to do, it was just a suggestion. The bill was inspired by the loss of Rachel Pendray, who passed away almost three years ago. Dean of Students John Yarabeck was at the meeting and mentioned that the tragedy of Rachel Pendray was the most difficult thing he has had to deal with as Dean of Students and that a lot of things have changed in the past three years.
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