The Student Government Association is considering altering the structure of their branches by proposing an amendment to disband the judicial branch.

This amendment was proposed at the Senate meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 17, along with three other amendments to the constitution.

According to Courtney Williams, SGA adviser, tension within SGA would be resolved if the Court of Review was disbanded.

“In order to keep our mission true they thought separating the branches would help. It confused the branches in SGA to have the justices inside SGA,” Williams said.

Natalie Paul, SGA executive vice president, said the Student Justice Board, which falls under the Office of Student Conduct, was created this year and will start to handle lower-level conduct cases.

“It was felt in previous years that SGA was becoming a punishing body,” Paul said.

The three other amendments to the constitution included making First-Year Council into an executive standing committee, eliminating the college president position on the Senate, and to get rid of the title of commissioner of elections.

Paul said making the First-Year Council into an executive standing committee would mean it would essentially become a branch of SGA.

Paul said she created it last semester because she wanted to give freshmen a chance to explore the different branches of the organization before they had to decide which branch to join.

She said the first semester is for “feeling it out” and starting in the spring, freshmen are able to sit in on meetings, but can’t vote in them.

She said she hopes this process will allow freshmen to have a better understanding of how SGA works and to be better prepared to be a voting member during their sophomore years.

Another amendment being proposed was to eliminate the position of college presidents in the Senate. Paul said that in the last three years, the college president has not been an effective position.

“We’ve had a very small Senate and the position of the college president wasn’t really being utilized,” Paul said.

The amendments making the First-Year Council an executive standing committee, the elimination of both college president and the title of election commissioner all passed during the meeting on Feb. 17, but the proposal to disband the Court of Review did not.

These amendments will be on the ballot for the spring election for the students to vote on.