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The Student Government Association is the official representative of the student body to the administration. A Trustee Document known as Trustee Document 73-98 (referred to as the Wellman Document) established the statutory authority for the University under which the University still operates. Under this document the Student Government Association is given broad power to change policy on this campus. UMASS is run by the Faculty Senate, Student Government and the administration on authority granted through the Board of Trustees.
The Student Government Association has certain rights and priveleges under this document. The majority of the Student Government Association's work is targeted at working with the University and allocating their own budget of approximately $2,000,000 to over 200 RSO's and Agencies. Under the Wellman Document however, they have primary jurisdiction under several areas relevant to the UMASS campus. Specifically that document states that the SGA has "primary responsibility" for the following:
"4. STUDENT AFFAIRS: Students will have primary responsibility for services and activities which are designed primarily to serve students or those which are financed primarily by students, managing student political affairs and organizational matters, and setting standards for student behavior, conduct, and discipline."
The Wellman Document goes on to state that on other areas of non-primary jurisdiction the SGA still plays a role as a governing body:
"2. When appropriate, governing bodies shall have the privilege of recommending policies and procedures affecting the campus and the Uni versity as a whole, including, among other matters, academic matters, matters of faculty status, and student affairs. Also when appropriate, governing bodies will have the privilege of contributing to long-range planning, the preparation of the annual budget request, and the
allocation of available resources."
Policy recommendations of this body go into effect unless the administration rejects them in the following manner:
"3. The Chancellor, the President, and the Board of Trustees may approve recommendations from the campus representative governing bodies at any time. Subject to precedents established by components of each campus and/or the restraints and procedures specified in their constitutions, and in accordance with the preceding statements of primary responsibility (Section I.B of this statement), recommendations adopted by the campus representative governing bodies will become policy unless:
(1) disapproved or sent back for reconsideration by the Chancellor within twenty working days of receipt of notification from the governing body;
(2) disapproved, sent back for reconsideration, or deferred by the President wi thin twenty working days of receipt of notification of the Chancellor’s approval or within twenty working days following the expiration of the twenty working-day period for the Chancellor’s consideration;
(3) disapproved by the President during a special thirty-working-deferral period (if the President chooses to defer his/her decision he/she will notify the governing body; the deferral period will begin at the end of the President’s initial twenty-working-day period of consideration);
(4) disapproved by the Board of Trustees within these specified time limitations. The governing bodies will notify the Chancellor, the President, and the Board of Trustees of their actions as soon as possible after their adoption. Any matter not acted upon within seventy-working-days of receipt of notification by the Chancellor of an action by a governing body will be taken as approved by the Board of Trustees. When a recommendation is disapproved, the governing body will receive written reasons in detail for the adverse decision."
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