Government Bill 93

 

A BILL TO BE ENTILED AN ACT TO HONOR SENATE PRESIDENT ETHAN KILLIAN HARRELSON FOR HIS DEDICATION AND LEADERSHIP TO NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

 

 

Short Title: Ethan Harrelson Student Senator of the Year Award Act

Sponsors: Senators Mbaneme (Corresponding) and Jewell

Signatories:

Referred to:                        

Version:  Initial

First Reading: March 28^th, 2012                                Second Reading: [Fast-Track Intended]

 

 

WHEREAS, Every year, the North Carolina State University Student Senate nominates and selects a Student Senator of the Year; and,

 

WHEREAS, This award is not currently written into statues; and,

 

WHEREAS, The individual selected for this award has demonstrated themself to be motivated and passionate about improving North Carolina State University; and,

 

WHEREAS, The current Senate President, Ethan Harrelson, exemplifies the qualities necessary to receive such an award; and,

 

WHEREAS, Senate President Harrelson has served four (4) years in Student Government, holding positions including Student Senator at Large, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) Junior Senator, CALS Senior Senator, CALS Delegation Leader, Appropriations Committee Chair, Legislative Secretary, Senate President Pro Tempore, and his current position as Senate President; and,

 

WHEREAS, As a First-Year Senator at Large, Harrelson worked as a member of the Academics Committee on a better drop/add schedule for classes and on the Public Affairs Committee attended city council meetings to represent NC State Student Government; and,

 

WHEREAS, As a First-Year Senator at Large, Harrelson also attended the Association of Student Government meetings as an alternate delegate on several occasions; and,

 

WHEREAS, As a College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Junior Senator, Harrelson attended every Agri-Life Council meeting to receive student concerns; and,

 

WHEREAS, As a CALS Junior Senator, Harrelson was elected by the Student Senate to be the Legislative Secretary, and in this role, he created a way for Student Body officers to electronically sign legislation and have it put on the website; and,

 

WHEREAS, As a CALS Junior Senator, Harrelson was a member of the Appropriations Committee, where he developed a formula to proportionally reduce requests if the committee went over budget to be as fair to all groups as possible; and,

 

WHEREAS, As a CALS Senior Senator, Harrelson was the most senior ranked member of the CALS Delegation and therefore was made CALS Delegation leader; and,

 

WHEREAS, In his role as CALS Delegation leader, Harrelson organized meetings with officials at the University and gave direct student input to the Dean and Associate Dean of CALS and to the Provost; and,

 

WHEREAS, The CALS Delegation under Harrelson was very influential in working with the Provost to advocate against the DE penalty for on-campus students, which has now officially become a university policy; and,

 

WHEREAS, Harrelson and the CALS Delegation created the first Moodle page used for student advocacy, which has been adopted by several other delegations; and,

 

WHEREAS, That same session, Harrelson was elected as the Senate President Pro Tempore during a difficult period of the Student Senate; and,

 

WHEREAS, Harrelson was the only student to regularly attend the Association of Student Government meetings that year and represent the 34,000 students of NC State; and,

 

WHEREAS, As Senate President Pro Tempore, Harrelson was also the chair of the Appropriations Committee, which for the first year came in under budget and did not have to make deductions to groups; and,

 

WHEREAS, Ethan Harrelson was elected as the Senate President for the 91^st session of Student Government; and,

 

WHEREAS, In his role as Senate President, Harrelson has held the Student Senate to the highest standard and followed strict rules on Student Government Statues, Parliamentary Procedure, and professionalism; and,

 

WHEREAS, As Senate President, Harrelson sat in the Tuition Committee for the University and fought for more financial aid, raising the percentage of tuition that goes to financial aid students from 25 percent to 35 percent; and,

 

WHEREAS, This year, he has interviewed everyone for every position, equating to over 80 interviews for vacant Senate seats; and,

 

WHEREAS, For the first time in recent history, all Senate seats have been filled with a diverse group of student leaders from the correct college; and,

 

WHEREAS, Harrelson has a strict open door policy to encourage student leaders to come and talk to him about their ideas and even devoted the Legislative Assistant position to making sure his schedule could be accessed readily; and,

 

WHEREAS, As a Senate President, Harrelson formed the Committee on First-Year Advancement and Development that educated new Senators about Student Government and parliamentary procedure; and,

 

WHEREAS, Harrelson has attended almost all of the meetings of the Association of Student Governments and when possible has provided the opportunity for several other student leaders to attend to represent NC State; and,

 

WHEREAS, At the Association of Student Governments meetings, Harrelson was elected the Speaker Pro Tempore, which means he represents all 220,000 students of the UNC system; and,

 

WHEREAS, Senate President Harrelson sits on the Harrelson Committee for the University and worked diligently to ensure that the Harrelson Lecturer for the 125^th Anniversary was a speaker that students would enjoy; and,

 

WHEREAS, Harrelson also sits on the selection committee for the new Vice Chancellor and Dean of Academic and Student Affairs position, where he worked to make sure that organizations like Student Government were included in the job description for the position as to ensure that every candidate knows the importance that student governance plays on NC State’s campus; and,

 

WHEREAS, Harrelson worked closely with Bradley Selzer and Rachel Turner to update and streamline the student body documents; and,

 

WHEREAS, All year, President Harrelson has brought influential and important speakers to the Student Senate meetings including the President of the UNC System for the first time in SG history; and,

 

WHEREAS, In the fall, Harrelson pushed for the Leadership Development Committee to start a service requirement because Harrelson believes in service-based leadership; and,

 

WHEREAS, Ethan Harrelson created the first student event for the 125^th Anniversary in the form of a carnival by bringing leaders together from across campus; and,

 

WHEREAS, Harrelson is a recipient of the Student Senator of the Year Award in the 90^th session; and,

 

WHEREAS, All these qualities should be met in an individual deserving the Student Senator of the Year award; now therefore be it,

 

RESOLVED, By the North Carolina State Student Senate that Chapter 1, Article 6 of the Student Body Statues shall read as follows:

 

Section 1.  Article 6. Student Senator of the Year Award

 

§1-6.1. Definitions and Conventions.

 

Within this article, the following definitions and conventions shall apply:

 

a.       The “award” refers to the NCSU Student Government Senator of the Year Award in Honor of Ethan Killian Harrelson, as provided by §1-6.2.

 

§1-6.2.  Student Senator of the Year Award

 

There shall be established an annual award known as the “NCSU Student Senator of the Year Award in Honor of Ethan Killian Harrelson” or simply the “Harrelson Student Senator Award,” as awarded by the North Carolina State University Student Senate on behalf of the Student Body to one student senator according to such procedures and criteria as delineated in this article.

 

§1-6.3.  Eligibility for Award

 

Any current or former student senator who has been a member of the student senate during the session in which the award is given.

 

§1-6.4.  Criteria for Award

 

The award shall be granted for exceptional service to the Student Body, above and beyond the expectations of the Student Body and Student Government. The Student Senate shall be empowered to determine if the nomination meets the criteria.

 

§1-6.5.  Nominations

 

Each Student Senator shall be permitted to nominate one (1) other student senator for the award each session.  Such nominations shall be made during a scheduled time on the student senate meeting agenda to occur no later than the first meeting in March. The Student Senate President and Student Body Treasurer shall not be eligible as a nomination.

 

§1-6.5.  Selection of Awardee

 

The Student Senate shall deliberate on the award nominees for a time not to exceed twenty-one (21) minutes, and each senator shall vote for their top candidate by ballot. The senate shall not know the recipient of the award until the time that the award is presented as specified by §1-6.6.

 

§1-6.6.  Presentation of Award

 

Insomuch as possible, the award shall be presented at some appropriate public function.  The Senate President shall be the Student Government official to present the award to the awardee.

 

and be it further,

 

RESOLVED, This act shall be effective upon its enrollment.