Teresa Schuster / Asst. News Director
The Biscayne Bay Campus Student Government Council opposes a merger with the Modesto Maidique Campus Student Government Council, which they announced in a statement today.
“SGC-BBC is not in support of merging our councils,” according to the statement.
This comes after SGC-MMC President Alexandra Valdes recently announced proposed revisions to SGA’s constitution that would merge the two councils.
BBC officials say this came as a surprise.
“We want to make it clear, SGC-BBC was not informed nor was involved in any discussion of a revised constitution,” they wrote in the statement. “It is of great concern to us that our opinions were not at all considered when President Valdes released her statement.”
According to SGC-BBC’s statement, officials want to have an “amicable civil discourse” to discuss the problems in SGA’s constitution.
“We want to fix our problems together, not to have structures imposed on us,” they wrote.
SGC-BBC believes Valdes’ proposed revisions would harm BBC students.
“President Valdes’s plan does address the organization [of SGA], though it does not address the people, the students of BBC,” they wrote in the statement. “Our current structure understands this BBC culture and fully represents the students of BBC.”
SGC-BBC officials urged Valdes and others at FIU to oppose any revisions to the constitution until SGC-BBC and students are included in the discussions.
“We would like any amendments or revisions to our constitution to go through the proper channels,” SGC-BBC officials wrote.
This isn’t the first time a merger has been proposed.
In 2018, merger negotiations were abandoned after months of heated disagreements among SGA officials and students.
SGC-BBC officials said that although they oppose the merger, they want this year’s talks to be different.
“Almost every time, any sort of discussion has led to heated arguments where emotions and passions take over. Every time this happens, nothing gets done,” they wrote. “We desire a discussion void of any emotions, passions, or biases and seek mutual understanding so we can achieve success in the interest of both our councils.”
SGC-BBC officials said they recognize the flaws in SGA’s current constitution and want to help resolve them.
“We are not in support of merging, though we are in support of fixing our constitution,” they wrote. “In this time of hyperpolarization where the entire country seems to be at odds with each other, we would like to be the example of how a proper and civil discussion can take place.”
Valdes did not immediately respond to PantherNOW’s request for comment.
Your SG is a founding member of ASGA. A few years back, ASGA reviewed this merger concept and compared/contrasted your structure with those of other large-enrollment, multi-campus institutions. Our three consultants independently concluded that an SGA merger would not be advisable.