Kennesaw State’s Student Government Association called for an emergency meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 23, to elect a new president following officer resignations and the scheduling of impeachment proceedings.
The SGA elected Carly Keller, former director of internal affairs, after approving a two-thirds vote from senators who were in attendance. Keller is a senior professional sales major who got her start within the SGA in 2018 after being appointed as the senator for the Coles College of Business by the sitting president. Keller said she has fallen in love with SGA ever since.
“It’s awesome to see how amazing this university is at giving the students resources they need to be successful,” Keller said. “And I know that firsthand because I’ve seen it, and I’ve been a part of it.”
Keller said the impeachment proceedings will continue for three executive board members once the SGA appoints a new director of procedural operations.
“It’s always necessary to have someone in that position,” Keller said. “That’s something that is non-negotiable.”
SGA Vice President Masood Salaam, Treasurer Stephen Harr and Senate Lead of the Marietta campus Soham Bapat will face impeachment trials after an approved resolution stated that these officers failed to uphold the constitution during the previous semester. Vincent Coakley, senator for the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, presented the resolution during the first general body meeting of the spring semester on Jan. 16.
These approved impeachment proceedings follow the resignation of the SGA’s former president, director of procedural operations, director of communications and secretary during the week of Jan. 13.
Keller said her first mission as the sitting president is to fill her executive board and senate seats. Keller added that applications for the open executive board positions and senate seats were available from Jan. 23 to Jan. 28.
Keller said she will conduct interviews with these applicants from Jan. 28 to Jan. 30. The SGA will vote to elect those who Keller appoints during their meeting on Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. in the Wilson Student Center ballroom.
Per the constitution and bylaws, the president of SGA appoints executive board members with the senate’s two-thirds vote approval. The appointed executive board members and senators, if elected, will be sworn in during the Jan. 30 meeting.
The dates for SGA’s yearly elections will be released on Feb. 1. These elections will open executive and senate positions for the 2019-2020 year.
“As the new president for the next couple of months, it is my objective to really bring stability back to the organization and encourage the wonderful senate that we have to keep flourishing,” Keller said. “It’s been incredible to see how passionate these senators are about their constituents.”
Keller quoted Mahatma Gandhi, “a sign of a good leader is not how many followers you have but how many leaders you create.”
