Belmont’s Student Government Association added 11 new names to its 40-seat senate. The polls closed Tuesday afternoon and the newly elected senators have been briefed. They will attend their first SGA General Assembly meeting Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., the first in-person session of the semester. The meeting is open to all students. The new senators come from a wide range of backgrounds and majors and all have their own goals for what they want to accomplish at Belmont. View thi

It was clear to me from the moment I stepped foot on Belmont’s campus that it was set apart. I saw a student community full of passion and drive with strong opinions from various backgrounds. What resonated in my mind the most was that no matter how diverse opinions were or how different each person’s perspective was, each student seemed to matter for who they were and for the opinions they held because they were a part of the Belmont community. This is what makes Belmont dif

Student Government Association presidential candidate Chris Dickerson and vice presidential candidate Macy Thompson are running on leading tough conversations on inclusion, diversity and managing the student fee before voting begins on Wednesday. “We genuinely love Belmont so that’s why we’re willing to take on the tough fights for students. This isn’t politics. This isn’t a game for us. We genuinely care about this community,” Dickerson said. As SGA treasurer, Dickerson succ

“Regardless if you are a nursing major, in greek life, on the HOPE Council, if you are not musically talented at all, you are in arts and sciences, no matter where you come from or what you seek to find at Belmont, it is yours to find,” said Cooper. “We want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to do that.” As SGA’s current vice president, Cooper said she’s led a year of change, rebuilding a tarnished SGA reputation, fully maximizing the usage of SGA’s budget and improvi

Student Government Association met Thursday night to vote on passing a space reallocation report and will present its findings to senior leadership Monday. SGA compiled the report with information collected through MyBelmont, a Space Reallocation Town Hall and Coffee & Conversation. “We’re hoping that they take our suggestions very seriously, and we’ll fight very hard in the meeting to ensure that they do,” said President Jonathan Rankin as he presented the space reallocation

Student Government Association debriefed its week of events for space reallocation and discussed its new top down approach to forming legislation at its meeting Monday. “I think our turnout wasn’t as much as we expected, but I think it was still a good meeting because we had a lot of great things that were said,” said President Jonathan Rankin. SGA will vote on a recommendation soon, and Rankin will request a meeting with senior leadership where cabinet will present the vario

Belmont’s Student Government Association passed its first legislation of the academic year at its Monday meeting, amending its bylaws concerning the impeachment process and passing resolutions that included redefining the multiple leadership policy and opening a second entrance the Curb garage under special circumstances. SGA had passed bylaws with the intention of amending them at the previous meeting, but this was solely to allow congress to function, said Alex Marsh, poli

Gonzales administered the oath and swore in President Jonathan Rankin and Vice President Jade Cooper again as well as the six cabinet and 40 congress members. Speaking from his experience in power as the 80th attorney general of the United States from 2005 to 2007, Gonzales gave some advice to the congress about the responsibility that comes with leadership. “The more responsibility and power that you accumulate, the tougher it gets,” Gonzales said. “You shouldn’t be discoura

Belmont’s Student Government Association cabinet released a statement to the Vision announcing that the lawn in front of Potter and Patton will close for 4 to 6 weeks at the end of next week for renovations. The statement, which can be found on the SGA website, comes following a meeting between the SGA cabinet and senior leadership. “The lawn is a special place on our campus. It’s an integral part of the student experience here at Belmont, and we as students have a right to u

The Student Government Association began its year with the biggest election turnout in its history and an informational meeting Monday that prefaced the upcoming year for congress. This semester’s voter turnout saw a 256 percent increase from last year’s with 755 students casting votes. With the outpouring of votes and student participation, SGA looks for a fresh start, President Jonathan Rankin said in Monday’s meeting. “To the students, I have this to say: We hear you. My c

Student Government Association President Jonathan Rankin and Vice President Jade Cooper were inaugurated in a small, filmed ceremony on Wednesday morning. “This was only an opportunity for the formalities of responsibilities to be transferred from one administration to the next,” Associate Provost and Dean of Students Jeffery Burgin said. The formal installation of president and vice president and the inauguration of the cabinet and the rest of SGA will take place in August,

The Student Government Association’s organizational activity has been suspended until further notice, according to an email obtained by the Vision and sent to members of the organization. According to the message sent by Director of Student Engagement and Leadership Development Amy Coles, the suspension is due “to the recent and ongoing issues pertaining to SGA” and goes into effect immediately. However, “Student Engagement and Leadership Development will meet with the newly

Keeping with the theme of clarifying and amending, Student Government Association passed amendments creating a code of ethics and eliminating the controversial Judicial Review Board Monday. At its first meeting after spring break, SGA made several additions and deletions to its constitution, hoping to establish a better process for handling ethical violations and legislative interpretation. Congress approved the formation of an Ethics Review Board which will conduct investiga

Student Government Association turned its gaze internally Monday night to examine issues related to ethics and procedures raised during the controversy surrounding the impeachment of President Jeanette Morelan. Congress passed a bylaw dealing with ethical violations but did not pass the actual code of ethics amendment due to time restraints on the meeting. Sophomore Christina Ashworth, who authored both the ethical code amendment and bylaw, said SGA was confronted with two op

On the afternoon of Feb. 5, Student Government Association President Jeanette Morelan received an email from Braden Stover, the chairman of the Judicial Review Board, the group which deemed Morelan’s actions unconstitutional. Stover will oversee any upcoming impeachment proceedings. The email condemned Morelan’s use of the SGA Facebook page to comment on the Bill of Impeachment against her and he expressed how he was displeased with Morelan’s treatment of the board. “I strong

Student Government Association Vice President Skyler Schmanski is allegedly behind the push to impeach the person he ran with: President Jeanette Morelan. Katie Wiseman, SGA representative and the point person behind the impeachment process, admitted that Schmanski pressured her to work on the legislation against Morelan. As a member of the cabinet, Schmanski cannot author legislation but can sponsor it. While Wiseman said Schmanski did not sponsor the impeachment legislation

Against a celebratory backdrop of student and administration collaboration, approximately 20 student demonstrators gathered at the South Lawn Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Wednesday morning to protest former resident assistant Danny Zydel’s firing and broader issues permeating the university. “We want transparency,” said freshman protester Sam Britt. The demonstrators were largely comprised of Zydel’s former freshmen residents from Patton Hall. Before the event began, they assemble

Danny Zydel told Student Government Association Monday he was fired from his residence assistant job earlier this month for recording a conversation between him and University President Bob Fisher without Fisher’s knowledge. Zydel addressed rumors of his dismissal from his position as an RA in Patton Hall at the SGA meeting Monday night. The situation started when Zydel said he was not happy with the answers given by senior leadership at SGA’s town hall meeting on Sept. 24, s

Seven students voiced their concerns to student government Monday night on how the increase in enrollment coupled with a lack of space on-campus is negatively affecting student organizations and Belmont as a whole. About 20 non-SGA students attended, the most at any congress meeting this semester. Monday’s meeting followed a week of extended office hours, a measure implemented by SGA to meet with students one-on-one. This was done to hear individual student concerns in light

Junior Danny Zydel was fired from his resident assistant job in Patton Hall on Monday and will officially be removed from the position at the end of the semester. Zydel, president of Student Activities Programming Board and Belmont presidential scholarship recipient, was dismissed by Jason Rogers, university council. Anthony Donovan, director of Residence Life, confirmed the firing but declined comment. Dr. Jeffery Burgin, associate dean of students and supervisor of Residenc