The Undergraduate Student Government voted Tuesday night to lower the GPA requirement for USG senate members from a 2.7 to a 2.5. They also waived any GPA requirements for students who have documentation of their disability from Disability Support Services.

USG President Jared Stern said he believes a student’s GPA should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

“A 3.0 or whatever the number may be is all relative to what it means to that person,” Stern said. “It’s important to keep in mind that numbers mean something very different to different individuals.”

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Vice-President for Student Affairs Rose Weisenstein said she believes USG is the one Registered Student Organization where GPA should not matter.

“This is an RSO where students can say their peace and vote on issues that may be causing them to have that lower GPA,” she said. “GPA does not define intelligence or anyone’s ability to vote for or against university issues.”

Chief of Staff Ian Ritchey said he has turned down many USG senator applications that didn’t meet the requirement.

“I am fairly confident that lowering it to 2.5 would help us fill the senate,” Ritchey said.

The senate currently has seven vacant seats.

At USG’s Nov. 15 meeting, members voted to indefinitely table a bill that would impeach Stern after he was accused of appropriating $500 to the United Nations Association — which was not an RSO at the time of appropriation — and violating the USG constitution in the process of approving a new constitution.

On Tuesday, 30 of the 40 present senators approved un-tabling the bill. Then 26 voted against impeaching Stern.

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“I don’t think I will ever get to a point where I can say, ‘I am satisfied with how this is going,’” Stern said as he addressed the group for the last time this semester. “There is a lot more room to grow and it starts with you guys.”

Staff writer Shannon Allen can be reached at 618-536-3326, [email protected] or on Twitter @ShannonAllen_DE.

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