The SGA chamber was quiet and still.

Treasurer Jihad Al-Khatib dropped the gavel that broke the silence, and the Wichita State Student Government Association passed a new senate bill Wednesday.

Although the bill passed unanimously, some questions were posed before it passed.

The bill deals with the transitional processes between new and old senates, as well as the times, dates and details for SGA elections.

Legislative Director Mariah Smith authored the bill.

The big changes, which brought the debate and questions from other senators, are as follows:

• SGA elections will be Wednesday through Friday of the first week of April instead of Monday through Wednesday.

• The campaign period for elections will be the third Monday of March to the last Sunday of March.

• The new senate and SGA officers will be sworn in and trained in the two weeks following the elections.

At-Large Senator Tyler Gegen questioned moving the election dates to the latter half of the week.

“My concern is that if we move elections from Wednesday to Friday and we are trying to increase voter turnout, wouldn’t that be an issue since many students aren’t on campus Friday?” Gegen asked.

Smith said since the SGA constitution requires the elections to be in April, changing the dates to the second half of week ensures voting will occur that month.

“If you do it Monday through Wednesday, you can’t guarantee election will occur in April,” Smith said.  

Smith later spoke again and clarified and tied the changes together.

“To have the campaign period be in the last week of March, if we want the next week to be the voting period of elections to occur in April, it has to be Wednesday through Friday,” Smith said.

After the bill passed, SGA moved on to new business.

SGA had first reads of bills that deal with election commission procedures and an amendment to the constitution to be voted on next week.

To conclude, SGA passed an organizational funding bill.

The bill totaled $2,414.71.

The Shocker SOC Club — the university’s sociology club — received $1,349.74 to help pay for a conference about gender and sexuality the group will host on campus.

The Sport Management Student Association received $1,200 to help its members travel to a career fair in Oklahoma City.

SGA will meet again at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Santa Fe room of the Rhatigan Student Center.