IUSA execs propose bill to raise Congress GPAs

IU Student Association executives want to increase the cumulative grade point average requirements for all members of Congress and congressional leaders of IUSA. The Academic Standards Act requires a 3.2 GPA for the president, 3.0 GPA for the remaining executives and a 2.6 GPA for all Congress members.\nJunior Student Body President Bill Gray and Junior Vice President of Administration Judd Arnold, introduced the bill in order to improve the credibility of the association, specifically when dealing with the administration.\n"Most top level administrators will have your transcripts pulled when you go into a meeting, and they will not take you seriously if your academic performance is below average," Gray said.\nArnold said the GPA requirement will ensure IU administrators know congress members are working hard in the classroom as well as outside of it.\n"It all comes down to credibility when dealing with the administration. GPA isn't so much a measure of intelligence, but how hard you work academically," Arnold said. "If you show your primary reason for being here is school, the administration will take you seriously."\nThe bill could come to a vote as soon as Monday and go into effect by the fall semester. Should the bill pass, all Congress members and executives who do not meet their respective academic standards will be released from the association.\n"I feel that a lot of people in Congress question why this is being brought up over the summer. I think a lot of our Congress people are focused on academics but they don't want to see the bill passed until the fall," said junior Vanessa Sea, vice president for congress. "I really think the fall Congress should be able to vote on it since they will be affected."\nGray said the bill needs to be implemented as soon as possible in order to maximize IUSA's effectiveness.\n"We want our institution to be excellent as soon as possible. We as students have a limited amount of time to achieve our goals, and in order to achieve those, we need to get started as soon as possible," Gray said.\nThe executives feel in order to preach academic dedication to the entire student body, the leaders must hold themselves to high standards and set an example.\n"A lot of people feel that the most important thing is academics, and it is tough to preach academics if we as leaders are not academically sound," Gray said. "If we are going to preach to people about high academic standards, we ourselves need to be held to those standards."\nArnold said the standards the resolution sets shouldn't cause any problems.\n"Our standards are very reasonable. Hopefully it will encourage students to work toward a higher GPA," Arnold said. "Excellence starts at the student level and goes all the way up to the university level. The higher people regard IU in an academic light, the better off everyone will be."\nWhile Gray emphasizes strict enforcement of the Academic Standards Act, extenuating circumstances will be considered. For example, if an IUSA member's GPA suffers because of a severe family or medical situation, like a death or learning disability, the member can ask for a pardon in which the member may be given time to improve the GPA and focus on academics. If the member does improve that GPA he or she may be allowed to remain in IUSA.\n"I think that in theory it is a very important issue since we are students, and it is important to be a student first. I know the executives are trying to set the tone for the Congress as a reputable body of intelligent students," said junior Laura Walda, proxy for Congress and former Honors College representative. "But presidential discretion doesn't do it for me."\nCongressional debate is almost guaranteed before the vote of the Academic Standards Act, since many current members who do not meet the standards will be expelled from IUSA.\n"The bill has work that needs to be done, and it will go through a lot of deliberation in Congress, but it's a good step toward accountability," said senior James Motter, chief policy advisor.