Added amendment says SGA must pass new scholarship by 2025/2026 election cycle

The resolution to abolish a previously established housing scholarship passed after an amendment was added.

The Student Government Association passed SR 23/24 – 03 after Rocco Hicks, a sophomore political science major with a minor in communication studies from Prattsville, Arkansas, made an amendment. 

“It just gives us the opportunity to make sure change actually happens,” President of SGA Micayla McGowen, a junior marketing major from East End, Arkansas said. “Seeing the Senate come together and actually showing what SGA is capable of, is really what was the great thing about this whole situation,”

Jackson Galloway, a junior electrical engineering major from Little Rock, presented his resolution after it was tabled at the last meeting. 

The amendment came after public comments, in which Zayd Kelley, a junior political science major from Cabot, Arkansas studying at The University of Central Arkansas spoke. Kelley is the president of the Arkansas Student Government Association and attended the meeting after hearing about the removal of a scholarship at A-State. 

Kelley said during the public comment section that SGA needs to guarantee a new scholarship will be made when they abolish the old one. 

Hick’s new amendment reads as follows: “If this resolution is passed, the Student Government Association pledges to pass a new scholarship/scholarships for in-need students by the 2025/2026 election cycle, or this resolution is nullified in its entirety.” 

Galloway said he was not upset about this addition, rather he was happy that it passed. 

“I’m thankful Rocco amended that because that was a little bit of an oversight. I agree that the students should have some accountability from us. I think that was a good amendment,” Galloway said. 

Kelley said he has hope for whatever scholarship replaces the old one. 

“I think that A-State (SGA) they have proven themselves tonight and I hope that whatever scholarship supersedes and replaces the old one, hopefully it’ll be better and it’ll be stronger,” Kelley said.

Senators Parker Collins, Frank Wirz, Chase Felkins and Louis Gonzalez are working together to create a new housing scholarship. 

“Coming into this, I was ready to die on the hill to not abolish the original one,” Wirz, a sophomore biology major from Dexter, Missouri said. “I’m kind of glad that amendment came around to give us a deadline.”

Wirz said with the amendment added to Galloway’s resolution, the length of the process of creating a new scholarship is up to the entire senate. 

“If it’s just a four-man team it might take the whole year,” Wirz said. “It’s just up to everybody else now, how long they want to kick the ball down the road.” 

Collins, a sophomore marketing major from Benton, Arkansas, said they are gathering information about the past scholarship and listening to other senators’ and advisers’ opinions of what the new scholarship should be. 

“​​The specific numbers and the amount of people who get the scholarship is definitely under consideration right now, but we’ll definitely work on it. It’s something that’s going to get done a lot quicker than previously,” said Felkins, a sophomore biology major from Dexter, Missouri. 

Connor Williams, a senior nursing major from Marked Tree, Arkansas, voted against Galloway’s resolution as a symbolic gesture. He said he disagreed with removing the scholarship as a whole and disliked the idea of completely throwing it out.

However, he was overall happy that it passed with the amendment and that he was pleased with the changes made to the resolution.

Williams started a petition last week to have an SGA-funded housing scholarship on campus.  The petition gained close to 150 signatures but was not officially submitted to SGA. Williams said he only started the petition as a way to gather student input and prove that there was a desire for a scholarship. 

“I don’t want the whole situation (the removal of a housing scholarship) to become a seemingly broken promise to the student body,” Williams said before the amendment was presented.  

Public relations chair Trin Reppenhagean’s ER 23/24 – 04 passed with no fails. The resolution was to replace a graduate chair with a new Student Support Services senator seat to represent those who are disabled, first-generation and low-income students. 

The next SGA meeting will be March 12 at 5:30 p.m. in the Delta Center. 

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