March 24, 2021 Update: This article has been updated to include new statements from Angela Lee.
USGA presented legislation for the first time this year on Tuesday and tabled a resolution in support of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees’ decision to rename the George Wallace Gymnasium and a resolution in support of victims of hate speech.
The resolution in support of renaming the George Wallace Gymnasium to the Physical Education Building was authored by USGA president Tyler Huang and CAS senators Cameron Freeman and Rizwan Kahn.
After the floor was opened for debate a motion to table was called and seconded, but it did not go to a vote. According to Robert’s Rules of Order, which USGA is bound to follow as outlined in § 301.2 Rules of Procedure in the USGA Code of Laws, a motion to table must be followed by a vote to table and passes with a simple majority.
When asked to comment on why the rules were not adhered to, Executive Vice President Angela Lee stated the Code of Laws does not dictate how to operate in a virtual environment but Zoom features may be utilized in the future to amend this.
“The Code of Laws does not have formal language on adapting Robert’s Rules of Order to a virtual environment,” Lee said. “With voting after a motion to table has been seconded, that may be amendable by utilizing Zoom features, but in-person procedures would consist of a majority commenting ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ aloud.”
The Senate continued to discuss the resolution in the Zoom chat box after tabling while other legislation was being presented.
The reason given by Freeman for tabling the legislation was that it also needed to include a plan of action to remove plaques and other mentions of Wallace’s name from the campus rather than just support of removal of his name from the gymnasium.
“The mention of the plaques was added after speaking to student leaders who worked on this outside of USGA,” Freeman said. “They suggested we add mention of the plaques and provide a plan of action to remove them since it was on topic.”
Freeman said that other resolutions have been passed in years prior to remove Wallace’s name, which is why the focus shifted to other parts of campus.
The resolution in support of members of the UAB community who have been victims of hate speech was sponsored and authored by CSOB senator Davis Gustafson and CAS senator Kafui Sakyi-Addo.
The resolution was proposed as an expression of support from USGA as an organization, not individual members, because of their purpose of representing the student body. It was tabled in order to edit it to be more specific.
USGA tabled legislation that outlines the procedure for filling vacant senate seats. The motion came after a discussion on when students will approach the senate with their platforms. All legislation tabled was done without a vote.
Other resolutions were passed in the meeting.
The resolution supporting the UAB sustainability plan to source 20% of electricity for the university from renewable sources by 2025 passed unanimously with an attendance of 32, three senators were absent.
The Fall 2021 RSO budget was approved 27-4 with one abstention. The total approved amount was $32,842.08.
The senior class gift resolution was approved 23-7 with two abstentions. The resolution is to advocate financial support of the Student Affairs Emergency Grant by encouraging students to donate the amount of the last two digits of their school year. Those funds would be held in a class gift fund.
