University of Mississippi Chancellor Dan Jones speaks in his office on the campus in Oxford, Miss., Friday, March 20, 2015. (Photo/Thomas Graning)
The Associated Student Body Senate approved a resolution in support of Chancellor Dan Jones with a vote of 35 in favor, three against and 14 in abstention. The statement will be announced today at the rally in support of Dan Jones.
The ASB resolution states, “The Associated Student Body provides its full support to Dr. Dan Jones and all efforts to increase student input in the decision making process of the Mississippi Board of Trustees of the State Institutions of Higher Learning.”
Some senators debated over the idea that a message of silence is equally as strong as issuing a public statement for the university.
“We have a lot of concerns about how he was removed,” said Cody Smith, chair of governmental operations committee.
One point during the debate was that it is the ASB’s duty to respond to issues like the contract non-renewal. The statement is worded so it simply expresses their concerns about the issue, according to Sen. Michael Howell.
“We want change to where this will never happen again,” Howell said. “We want our voices to be heard.”
In other action:
Sen. Cody Smith introduced a bill proposing to raise the current vacancy limit in the campus Senate from 10 percent to 20 percent.
Smith also passed another bill, which will increase the number of election commissioners monitoring elections from five to 10 members.
Other bills that passed included downsizing a section of the Student Associated Body Code to provide clarity, and allowing free giveaways of promotional campaign items, with the exception of food, as long as each item has a value of no more than $1 per unit.
The resolution to create the role of a chaplain within the Student Body Senate was not passed and was sent back to the Governmental Operations Committee for further review.
