by Krissy Proctor
Staff Writer
Early this past Sunday evening, a small group of student senators uneasily trickled into the harsh lighting of the SGA room on the third floor of the Latimer Student Center and took their seats. After a few minutes of discussing details of the previous meeting, Vice President of the Student Body Tori Stewart proposed a motion to continue the discussion regarding Senate Bill 1, concerning the dissolvingof Ministry Council.
After an hour and half of lengthy conversation, they made their decision, and it was unanimous. Beginning next semester, neither the positions of Ministers to Men and Women nor any of the Executive Ministry Cabinet will exist. Current members of the council will finish out their terms this semester.
Sophomore Representative Rob Franklin discussed the issue after the meeting on Sunday.
“Ministry Council, as it is, is not working, but with elections in less than two weeks, there’s not much we can do. We didn’t want the next SGA to have six people or more doing something that we know is stressful and that we’d like to fix anyway.”
Stewart put it another way.
“Ministry Council is frustrated on a council level, and spiritual issues are slightly different than government ones. It’s difficult for SGA to function as someone’s counselor.”
According to the senate bill released Tuesday, reasons for the dissolution also include the council’s inability to function effectively in SGA, frustration due to high turnover rates, and the unnecessary function of the council in its current format with the development of the Spiritual Formation office.
Senators proposed the motion Friday immediately after Ministry Council made a recommendation for its own dissolution following months of what council and SGA members have coined “an identity crisis.”
“In the past, Ministry Councils have been busy all the time…and for the past seven years we’ve not,” Vice President of Ministry to Men Andrew Davis, said Monday.
“We also feel the need to serve God without the confines of the system,” said Jenifer Manzo, Vice President of Ministry to Women. “I feel like SGA doesn’t allow ministers to serve God in the way they feel is best.”
Manzo and other members of the council confirmed that this issue had been under consideration and prayer since Christmas Break and that all members and their advisors were at a consensus.
Filling the gaps left by the dissolution of the council is a problem that the Senate hopes to solve in the next few months.
“It’s an optimistic hope.” Franklin said on Sunday. “And a problem everyone in this room is passionate about solving.”
Davis and Manzo have recommended that Senate “experiment with a year off,” taking time to see what exactly the student body needs in the way of ministry.
“You have to not worry about ‘if you end this what will happen?’” Manzo said Friday. “All of us here serve a God bigger than this – God is great enough to fill the role better than any option SGA could come up with.”
“Worst-case scenario: Ministry Council is permanently dissolved.” Davis added Monday. “Best case scenario: its set free to become everything it was meant to be.”