Current propositions to reorganize the House of Governors (HOG) branch of the Student Government Association will affect the chartering and representation of all student organizations.

One proposition would relocate the power to charter new organizations from the SGA Senate to HOG, a committee of SGA consisting of the heads of all Chartered Student Organizations (CSOs) on campus.

A second proposition would reorganize HOG itself into “umbrella” groups, in which a SGA senators would be designated to represent a constituency of similar CSOs. No direct representation of CSOs currently exists in the Senate.

HOG currently facilitates communication between CSOs and provides limited feedback to the SGA through joint meetings every semester. SGA Executive Vice President Lauren Gretz initiated the movement to give more power to HOG.

“I felt, as most executive vice presidents do, that the potential of HOG is very underestimated,” Gretz said.

After debating the change in two monthly meetings, HOG members supported the relocation of chartering power from SGA.

“The presidents and organization liaisons are better equipped to say whether new CSOs can fill a niche among student organizations,” said Gretz.

Chad Kreikemeier, SGA administrative vice president, initiated the proposition of student organization umbrella groups.

The institution of the umbrella groups would organize student organizations according to area of interest, facilitating representation in SGA. Each organization would have a specific representative to contact, Kreikemeier said.

“There are 72 CSOs on campus and no person to organize them,” said Kreikemeier.

One senator would represent each of six proposed groups: issue and advocacy, sports, cultural associations, academics, governing bodies, and campus-wide organizations. That senator would assist the constituent organizations with budget proposals and would check that each organization fulfills its mission and appropriates its funds correctly.

The general consensus of HOG members is that the senators chosen should be existing senators or unaffiliated representatives.

“For example, sports teams don’t want someone from the rugby club representing all of the sports,” said Kreikemeier. Alternately, senators could be chosen from HOG itself.

He also said that the Committee for Internal Affairs, consisting of three SGA and three HOG members, should choose, not elect, the umbrella group senators.

SGA plans to address these propositions after this year’s election.